The Fallen
by Kodabear18
Summary: <html><head></head>When Clary's best-friend, Jace Herondale, decides that it is a good idea to form a band, she is dragged into a battle of idiocy and hormonal teenage boys. Can she survive, or will stupidity be the cause of her demise? (from the story) 'Well, you could be in the band.' 'What would I play! I can't even play the triangle without causing bodily harm to the bystanders.'</html>
1. Chapter 1

_Clary POV_

"You're doing _what?"_ I ask incredulously, still not comprehending what my best-friend has just told me. Jace grins at me with childish excitement, before looking around the small room that our group of friends has gathered in.

"We're starting a band. And _you,_" he pauses to point at me. "are going to be a part of it." He finishes off with a mischievous smirk. I rapidly shake my head and stand up to start pacing across the small space that is in front of my bed.

"No." I state, my tone firm and final. Sadly though, with Jace, I never get to have the last word. _On anything._

. . .

Shall I explain? I think that I shall.

Jace and I have been best-friends ever since he moved into my apartment building when we were both 10. He had been recently adopted by the Lightwood's, so he was really closed off for a while. Eventually though, I got him to open up with my 'kind words'.

_(Flashback)_

"_Suck it up. Be a man. I'm getting tired of your constant whining." I said unkindly to the blonde-haired boy in front of me. He startles up from his bed and glares at me, sniffling slightly and wiping his nose with the sleeve of his shirt._

"_H-how'd you get into my room? Who are you?" he demands, walking around his bed and standing in front of me. I look up into his eyes and set my jaw with a child-like stubbornness that I am known for._

"_I've lived here all of my life. My friend Simon used to live in this room, but he moved away two months ago for his dad's job. I used to climb across our balconies and have sleepovers with him. I live in the apartment that's next to yours." I explain while sitting down onto his bed and lying back until I am in a comfortable position. "Besides," I start again, still speaking as the blonde-haired boy sits down next to me warily; as if I am diseased. "you left your door unlocked. You were basically inviting me in. If you really wanted me out so badly, you wouldn't've been moping around on your bed like a toddler and would've been locking your door and acting your age." I state tiredly, as if my job of being a nine-year-old is extremely exhausting. The blonde-haired boy's wide, golden eyes stare at me blankly throughout my entire speech, causing me to glare up at him in annoyance. I sigh dramatically and let my head fall back against his mattress heavily, causing him to fight back a smile and sniffle again. I grin up at him and sit up. He eyes me curiously for a moment, before seeming to remember exactly what his priorities are._

"_Who are you? Why are you here?" he asks, his tone slightly hoarse from crying. I stare at him intently for a moment, before grabbing his hand and playing with his first, he tries to pull his hand back, but soon gives up after realizing that I'm not going to let go._

"_I could hear you crying from my room. I live across from you, ya' see." I say distractedly, pointing towards his window and at my balcony that is directly across from his. He sits up straighter with interest and looks down at where our hands are, me making his form shapes and his laying limply in my grasp, letting me play with his hand to my heart's content. "It was starting to annoy me, so I decided to come see what's that matter with you." I state, dropping his hand down onto his lap and looking up into his slightly swollen eyes. "Are you okay? Because you moved here about a week ago, and all that I've seen you do is cry in here. Did you hurt yourself? Can I help?" I ask, my tone taking on a slightly worried one towards the end. He smiles slightly at me and ducks his head down._

"_No, I'm not hurt. I'm just sad." He sniffles again and his eyes start to get watery. "I miss my mom and dad." He mumbles quietly, but loud enough so that I can hear. I furrow my eyebrows at him and scoot closer to his trembling form, trying to comfort him._

"_What happened to them? Where are they?" I ask softly but curiously, brushing a hand over his hair lightly like Mommy does when I'm sad. A tear slides down his face and he wipes at his cheeks harshly, before leaning into my touch slightly._

"_Maryse said that they're in Heaven now. I'm not so sure, though. They died in a car-accident about three weeks ago." he tries to explain bravely, but the tears continue to come and soon he is crying quietly again. I wrap my arms around him and pull him to me gently, surprised when his arms wind themselves around my smaller form and he buries his face in my chest. _

"_Sh, it's okay." I whisper calmly, trying to comfort him like how Mommy has done to me so many times. Eventually, he stops crying and pulls back from me. He gives me a weak smile and I smile back widely._

"_Now that that's taken care of, do you wanna play with me and my brother? We were going to play Hide-and-Seek in our apartment. It's really fun. We build forts and sometimes my Dad plays with us." I ask hopefully. His eyes brighten up and he nods vigorously at me with a wide smile._

"_Sure." He exclaims excitedly, jumping up from his bed and pulling me with him; his earlier sadness forgotten. We start towards his balcony, but before we start climbing across the 1-foot gap that separates our rooms, he grabs the sleeve of my T-shirt and pulls me to a stop. "What's your name?" he asks curiously. I smile and hold out my hand like Daddy does when he meets with people from work._

"_Clarissa Adele Morgenstern at your service, but my friends just call me Clary for short." I state formally, shaking his hand when he holds his out to meet mine._

"_Jonathan Christopher Herondale, but Maryse and Robert call me Jace for short." He says with a wide smile that shows childish dimples in each of his cheeks. I smile wider when I hear his name, before starting to climb across the small gap._

"_You have my brother's name, Jace. I think that we're going to be best-friends." I announce proudly when we stand firmly in my bright-green bedroom. His eyes widen slightly at the difference from his plain white bedroom, but his grin is still in place as we set off to find Jon to start playing._

_(End of Flashback)_

Jace and I immediately became best-friends from that day onwards. He knows my every secret and I know his. He and I basically formed our group of friends between the two of us, with us being in completely different 'clicks' if you will. His additions to the group were Jordan Kyle; the high-school drop-out, Alec Lightwood; Jace's adoptive brother and best-guy-friend, Sebastian Verlac; one of Jace's friends from football and also my brother's best-friend, and Jonathan Morgenstern; Jace's friend and also my big brother. My additions to the group were Isabelle Lightwood; my sister-from-another-mister, Maia Roberts; Jordan's girlfriend and also one of my only girl-friends that likes gaming, and Simon Lewis; one of my closest friends and hardcore geek. When you add up all of the different personalities that make up our group, you either have complete compatibility, or you have a thermonuclear weapon that is just waiting to be set off.

One of the hardest things that we have had to deal with is our age differences. You see Maia, Izzy, Simon, Jace, and I are all sixteen, when Jordan, Alec, Seb, and Jon are all seventeen. We all seem to make it work, despite the thousands of arguments that Jon and I have had about him being older and more 'responsible' when it comes to who is in charge. Jace always seems to win our arguments though; even the ones that he isn't even a part of.

He, somehow, always knows where we are in our apartment. Like, Jon and I will be watching TV, and he'll just appear out of nowhere and make himself comfortable on our couch after he has pushed both of us off of it. Sadly, my entire family has had to accept Jace's lack of personal space, so he has free reign over my entire apartment. More than once, have I regretted letting him know about our balconies and not being able to lock my window securely. _Trust me, I've tried._ I even once put several pad-locks onto the latch that secures my window shut, but he still figured out how to break those off and sneak into my apartment. It is kind of amusing to think about, but mostly frustrating because I have no privacy. _None. At. All._ One time when we were 13, he decided that it would be funny to barge into my bathroom while I was showering; he climbed through my window, came into my bathroom that is connected to my room, sat down onto the toilet, and then proceeded to tell me all about his day while I was screaming for him to leave. Jon thought that it was hilarious, so he didn't really help at all.

Of course, Jace isn't the only one who uses our crappy locks to his advantage. After the 'Shower Incident', as I like to call it, I decided to get a little pay-back. I basically went into his room while he was in the shower and stole all of his clothing. I had then proceeded to leave a bright red thong and a matching bra that Izzy had lent me on his bed. The only problem with my evil-plan was that I had forgotten that it was Jace whom I was dealing with. I almost died when he showed up in my bedroom at around 2:00am later that night; wearing only the thong and bra that I had earlier left in his room. _I swear, that man has no shame whatsoever. _He ended up hysterically laughing while I was hiding underneath of my comforters and quietly yelling at him to go home. It was, after all, 2:00am and my father would've killed both of us _slowly_ for waking him up when he had to work the next morning. We have made some very inappropriate memories together, that's for sure.

Jace and I have always been close for as long as I have known him. Well, except for when Simon moved back into our apartment building and made Jace extremely worried that I would leave him for Simon. Of course, I didn't, but Jace really made a big deal out of me being friends with Simon. I eventually got him to agree to be friends with Simon as well, but he still teases him relentlessly for having a crush on Izzy. Sometimes I wonder where Jace's personality came from, but then I remember that I was one of his prime examples as a child, so I can't really talk. _Insert unabashed smile here. _

. . .

I look around my small bedroom and take in my surroundings as I pace. Maia and Jordan are sitting together snugly at the top of my bed, acting as if nobody matters except for the two of them. _Lucky pieces of shit._ Izzy, Simon, and Seb are all splayed out onto the floor in front of where I am pacing, eyeing me warily. Alec and Jon are talking quietly amongst themselves, most likely about this so-called 'band'. And finally there's Jace, who is staring at me with puppy-dog-eyes and slowly starting to get up from his spot of the edge of my bed. I stop pacing momentarily to watch him as he makes his way over to me. I stare up into his familiar golden orbs with defiance, only to sigh in defeat after a moment. I drop my gaze to the ground when I see his shit-eating grin take over his features and sigh heavily again.

"What are you planning, Jace?" I mumble half-heartedly, still staring at the hard-wood floor beneath me. I feel his thumb take my chin and lift it up o that I am staring at his face, before he starts speaking.

"Well," he starts, basically letting me know that this is a bad idea before he has even started telling me. "Jon, Seb and I were brainstorming the other day, and Jon mentioned how Simon is in a band, so naturally I had to look into it. Apparently they suck ass," he is cut off by Simon's angry voice echoing through my room.

"Hey!"

"So," Jace continues as if Simon never said a thing. "I checked with everyone to see if any of us could play instruments. Turns out, that enough of us are musically gifted to form a band. Jon kicks ass on the guitar, Jordan plays guitar too, Alec agreed to be our bass-player, Seb has been taking drum lessons since he was like five, and I, of course, will be providing the heavenly chorus to bring us all together. It's ingenious really." He explains, sounding extremely proud of himself. I stare at him, momentarily stunned, before slowly leaning back against the wall and sliding down so that I am sitting in front of my bed on the floor.

"And why, do pray-tell, am I needed for this?" I ask tiredly, slight confusion laced into my voice. Jace squats down in front of me so that we are at eye level and grins.

"You, my dear dumpling, are going to help us come up with a name, logo, help book us at gigs, and pretty much be our manager. We've all discussed this, and agree that you are the most trustworthy out of everybody that we know. It really wasn't up for discussion, I mean," he pauses his speech to stand up again and start looking around at the group, who has gone silent sometime during Jace's earlier speech. I stand up as well and look at Jace in panic.

"What?! I can't be your _manager!_ I don't even like the idea of you guys being in a band. Let alone being in control over it!" I cry incredulously, quickly scanning all of my friends' faces to see if they all agree with this. Sadly for me though, they are all smiling at me encouragingly. _Mother-fucking traitors. _Jace walks over to me and grabs me by my shoulders, shaking me softly.

"Well, you could be in the band. There's always that option, but you are being a part of this. No if's, and's, or but's." he says gently, but his words are final. My eyes widen and I shake my head at him in disbelief.

"What would I play?! I can't even play the triangle without causing bodily harm to the bystanders. There's no way in_ hell_ that I'll be able to learn an instrument that consists of possible weaponry. I couldn't even play the _tambourine_ because I accidentally let go of it while trying to use it and it went airborne through the window in Mrs. Penhallow's classroom. They literally _banned_ me from the music department. _Permanently."_ I list off exasperatedly. Jace grins down at me deviously, before moving away from me and facing the rest of the group again.

"Well, that settles it then. Clary's going to be our little _Flame_ in the band. You'll really _light_ things up." He says smugly, snickering to himself quietly when I glare at him.

"Careful, Herondale. I know where you sleep." I threaten, not emptily. He smirks and wiggles his eyebrows at me.

"Is that an invitation?" he asks innocently, despite the devilish glint that seems to have taken shelter within the depths of his eyes.

I roll my eyes as he whole group laughs at his joke and playfully punch his shoulder. He dramatically drops to the ground and starts vibrating, resembling someone who is having a seizure. I giggle into my hand, before going to the ground and poking the soft spot that is located on the side of his ribcage. He knows that I know that he hates it when I do that, so I continue to do exactly that. He chuckles breathlessly and sits up, making me stop my assault on his ribs and back away. His eyes get a mischievous look in them, warning me to 'run now', but I never get a chance to listen to my instincts.

He lunges towards me and tackles me to the ground, tickling me until I am almost in tears from laughing. His smile is wide and genuine when he finally stops tickling me, causing my breath to catch slightly. He almost never smiles genuinely anymore. It's always smirks and grins, but he always seems to give me one genuine smile every day. It's almost like a goal of sorts.

I am brought out of my thoughts by Jace standing up and pulling me with him. once I am steady o my feet again, he grabs my hand and pulls me towards the bed. We plant ourselves at the end and look at everyone.

"So, what do we do first, Flame?" he asks me, seriousness and teasing mixed together in his tone. I groan and let my head fall down against his shoulder.

"I don't know." I mumble into his t-shirt, causing him to chuckle.

"Okay, so…" he starts to explain something to me, but I'm not really listening. I'm only hearing my own thoughts, really only one in particular. _What the hell did Jace just drag me into?_

**Hello, lovely readers. So, this is the beginning of my new story. Yay! I really like where I have this story headed, so I will be updating soon. Very soon. **

**As always, Cassandra Clare owns all, except for the plot and my ideas. :D**

**Review&Follow :D**


	2. Chapter 2

_Clary POV_

I am startled awake by a loud knocking sounding through my small bedroom. I groan and try to bury myself deeper into my comforter, but the annoying sound continues. I slowly roll out of my warm bed and walk towards the door. Before I open it though, I take a glance at the alarm clock that is sitting on my bedside table. _5:30am. Who the hell wakes up at 5:30am?! _I roll my eyes at myself, because I already know that answer, and pull open my door. I furrow my brows together and groggily look down the hallway when no one appears to be at my door. _Nobody? What the fuck-? _

I am interrupted by the insistent knocking continuing, this time from my window. I sigh deeply and stumble over to my closed window. I pull it open and come face to face with Jace. He is perched like Spiderman in between the small gap that separates our Balconies and is grinning like a small child with ADHD. I glare at him harshly, but he takes no notice because he is already jumping down through my window and spreading out onto my bed. I scowl at him while he makes himself comfortable, before sighing and joining him on my bed.

"What do you want Jace?" I demand quietly, still half-asleep. He turns to face me and grins even wider.

"I came to get you for our first _official_ band meeting. I already called everybody else, so they should be at my apartment in about three or four hours." He states, sounding wide-awake. I let out an incredulous breath and allow my head to fall back against my pillows.

"Why in the _actual hell_ are you here at 5:30 then?" I mumble tiredly. I lose my eyes and feel the bed shift, so I know that Jace has scooted closer to me. I feel him pick up one of my braids, because I always sleep in braids, and start playing with it absentmindedly.

"Well, I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep, so I thought, '_Hey, why don't I go visit my favorite little red-head and let her suffer my lack of sleep with me.'_ So, yeah. That's pretty much the only excuse that I have." He explains lightly, but making sure that his voice is quiet. I nod slightly, completely used to Jace's abnormal sleeping pattern, and roll over towads him. he wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me until I am resting my head on his chest. I listen to his steady heartbeat and sigh softly, before resting my chin on his chest and looking up into his eyes.

"Do you think that you could go back to sleep, because I am exhausted." I murmur sleepily. I feel him plant a kiss onto my forehead and nod.

"Yeah, I probably can. I just wanted to see you." He says honestly. I smile slightly, before getting comfortable and relaxing. I feel him take out the hair-tie that was holding in one of my braids, but do nothing to stop him from messing up my hair.

"Night." I mumble softly, before closing my eyes and snuggling up to my best-friend. I feel him gently tug on a part of my hair and settle back into my pillows, before I hear a quiet whisper.

"It's morning." His voice drips sarcasm, even in it's quiet and soft tone. I slightly nudge him with my elbow and he chuckles. "Night, Clare." His soft voice barely registers in my mind, before I let the darkness carry me away; completely content to be in my best-friends arms.

* * *

><p>Even when we were younger, Jace has always been very touchy-feely. That's the only way that I can think to describe it. He has always hugged me and kissed numerous parts of my body like Jon does; <em>but not like that you perves<em>. He's like the more attentive older brother that replaces Jon occasionally. I've learned to just allow Jace to do whatever he wants; like if he's playing ith my hair, he most likely won't stop even if I am screaming at him. I am almost positive that he finds it amusing to get me all riled-up.

Anyway, he just really likes to cause me grief.

* * *

><p>I am woken up, yet again, by knocking. This time though, it is definitely on my door. I go to get out of my bed, only to find a large, tan arm restraining me. I follow the arm up to its owner and find Jace's sleeping face pressed into my pillows. I smile slightly and start to lift up his arm, only to have it tighten around my shoulders and bring me to him. I sigh and try to wiggle out of his grasp, but one of his eyes open before I can. He just looks at me for a moment, before a small smirk tugs at the corner of his mouth and he squeezes me tighter to him.<p>

"Jace, let me go." I whine. "There's someone at the door." I say, while poking his cheek with my index finger. He opens up both of his eyes and grins evilly at me.

"Nope. I like you right here." He mumbles, his voice slightly husky from sleep. He buries his face into my hair and breathes in, causing me to slap him over his head.

"Let go, ass-wipe." I demand, trying to not giggle at his affronted face.

"_Ass-wipe?!_ What the fuck is an ass-wipe?" he asks me, momentarily losing his grip on me. I slide out from under his arm and race towards my door, while sticking my tongue out at Jace; like the mature 16-year-old that I am. I take in a deep breath, before opening the door. Jon stands there, banging his head against the wall next to the doorframe. He continues his assault on his forehead, not noticing that I have opened the door, so I lean against the doorframe and cross my arms over my chest.

"You know, you're going to kill any and all brain-cells that you managed to keep if you continue to do that, right?" I ask teasingly, causing him to straighten up and look me in the eye.

"Is Jace in there? Because everybody else is next door, but he isn't. We've been waiting for, like, 30 minutes." He says quickly, pointedly ignoring my last statement. I roll my eyes and walk back into my room, where Jace is now sitting up in my bed and yawning. He stretches his arms above his head and jumps out of the bed, walking over to the window.

"Sorry, Jon. Your sister decided that I needed to sleep with her, so she was occupying my time." He informs Jon mock-seriously, sending a sly wink my way. Jon's eyes widen slightly, but he eyes me and Jace for a moment before speaking.

"You slept _together? _Or you _slept _together_?_" he asks, his face confused. Jace grins and starts climbing onto the windowsill.

"That, my friend, is all up to your interpretation." He says mysteriously, before disappearing through the window. I sigh and laugh under my breath, while walking towards my balcony.

Jace and I's rooms each have one window and one balcony. They are both across from each other, so we use them to get to each other's rooms. I usually use the balconies though, and Jace uses the windows. It's just an unsaid rule, I guess.

"So, you guys actually did the deed, or you just had a sleepover?" Jon asks, still not comprehending what Jace just said. I roll my eyes and start climbing over the railings that separates our balconies.

"Figure it out for yourself. You're a smart boy. Or did you actually kill all of your brain-cells earlier?" I inquire devilishly, causing Jon to scoff and leave my room. For some reason, Jon refuses to climb over the railings on our balconies. It might be the fat that we are three stories up high, but if that's the case, he's just being a wimp.

When I land onto Jace's balcony, I hear voices coming from inside of his room. I walk in, to see that everyone is settling themselves down onto his bed and floor; like they were in my room yesterday. I make my way over to Jace, who is sitting on his desk chair and spinning in circles like an eight-year-old, and stand in front of him.

"What are we all doing here?" I ask curiously. He stops spinning and faces me, opening up his knees so that I am stood in between them.

"We're discussing the band. We need to figure out the name, logo, songs, you know. All of the stuff that I kind of told you about yesterday." He says casually, setting his hands onto my shoulders and rocking back and forth in the chair. _Shit! Was that what he was talking about? _I sigh and look him dead in the eye.

"I wasn't really listening yesterday, so…" I admit sheepishly, causing him to chuckle.

"That's okay. We just need to at least figure out the name; and where we'll be practicing at, because I don't think that Madame Dorthea would like it if we practiced at the Institute." He says thoughtfully. I nod and go to find a seat, but Jace pulls me down onto his lap and rests his chin on my shoulder. I giggle slightly and lean back against his chest.

Madame Dorthea is the landlady for the apartment complex that Jace and I live in. she's really odd, like voodoo-odd, but is overall really nice. She just doesn't tolerate loud noise very well. The Institute is the apartment building itself. Jace, Alec, and Izzy started calling it that sometime after they moved in, so it just kind of _stuck,_ if you will. I look up and notice that the room is starting to quiet down, so Jace takes this moment to start speaking.

"Quiet down, my lowly peasants." He bellows in a deep voice, causing everyone, except for me of course, to look at him weirdly. I cough slightly to cover up my laugh and lean my head back onto his shoulder. "Okay, so the first order of business is," he pauses for a dramatic affect. "band names." He says finally. Everyone is silent for a moment, before Jordan speaks up.

"What about, 'Bean-bags and Baristas'?" he asks, making a grand gesture with him hand. Everyone shakes their head at him, causing him to mock-pout.

"How about, 'The Chubby Hamsters'?" Simon suggests, causing Jace to scowl at him.

"No. you don't even get an input. You're not in the band. Why are you even here?" he demands. Simon flushes bright red, but Izzy saves her crush by death-glaring Jace. He clears his through, before going silent again. We sit around for a few minutes, until Jon suddenly sits up straight and raises his hand like a child.

"I know! 'The Pyro and his Flame'!" he exclaims, sounding awfully proud of himself. I rol my eyes and shake my head at him. He huffs, but shuts up and sits back down.

"'The Agrestic Arguers'?" asks Seb after a minute. Nobody seems to bite on his idea, so we sit there for a while, just thinking. Finally, Jon decides to talk again.

"What about, 'The Hydro and his Faucet'?" he asks curiously. We all glare at him. "'The Clepto and his Handbag'?" silence greets his statement. "'The Nympho and his Prostitute'?" he asks hopefully, but only succeeds in causing everyone to burst out laughing.

"No, Jon. We're not naming our band after a sex-addict!" Jace exclaims, his chest vibrating with laughter through my back. Soon, everyone has calmed down and is thinking again.

"'The One-Night-Standers'?" asks Jordan after a while. Everybody shoots that idea down, causing him to sigh and flop onto his back on the bed. Simon groans and rolls his eyes.

"This is pointless." He mumbles. Jace looks at him sharply and raises an eyebrow at him.

"Well, please enlighten me, what do you think that we should name _our _band, Rat-boy?" he inquires harshly, making sure to use the old nickname that he used to call Simon when we were younger. Simon perks up slightly and points a finger at Jace.

"What about, 'The Enlighteners' or 'the Enlightened'. Just pick _something_." He exclaims, glaring at Jace with his eyes. Jace scoffs and buries his face into my neck.

"No. Your ideas suck ass." He says, his voice slightly muffled by my skin. I reach a hand up and run it through his hair, trying to calm him down so that he and Simon don't start a verbal war, _once again._ Izzy and Maia, whom have been silent the entire time, look at each other for a moment, before standing up and walking out of the room.

"We're going to go get some pizzas. We'll be back, but you guys better have the name sorted out by that time." Izzy warns, before slamming the door dramatically and waltzing out of the apartment on her 5-inch heels. The seven of us that are left all look at each other and groan.

"This is so hard." Jon moans dramatically, causing all of us to nod in agreement.

"What about," Jace starts, but pauses to think. "'The Lord and his Peasants'?" he mumbles half-heartedly. Nobody acknowledges his suggestion, so he just sighs and wraps his arms around me tighter.

"'The Amputated Limbs'?" Seb asks unsurely. I snort and shake my head. Alec, who hasn't said any suggestions yet, suddenly sits up; a small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"We could call ourselves, 'The Porphyrophobics'." He says mock-seriously, causing me to burst out laughing. Alec is usually the quiet one, but he has a great sense of humor. You just have to figure out how to get him out of his shell. Apparently though, I am the only one who got his joke, because everyone else is staring at me and Alec blankly.

"What's a porphyrophobic?" Jace mumbles into my ear. I giggle and turn my head to face him.

"It's someone who has the irrational fear of the color purple." I manage to get out through my giggles. Jace chuckles and looks to Alec with a questioning look.

"Why the hell would we name our band that?" he asks, thoroughly amused. Alec just shakes his head and laughs quietly.

"That's what makes it funny. We wouldn't." he says, smiling widely. We are interrupted by a loud knocking on the door, causing me to fall off of Jace's lap in surprise. My groan and roll onto my side in pain, but am quickly pulled into Jace's arms.

"Are you okay, Clare?" he asks concernedly. I smile at him, nod, and stand up with his help. I look towards the door, to see Robert Lightwood standing in the doorway. He smiles kindly at us all and walks into the room further.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be at school?" he asks curiously. Jace shakes his head, while sitting back down onto the chair and setting me on his lap again.

"Nah, it's Sunday." He states casually. I lean into his muscular form and sigh quietly. _Now my ass hurts._ Robert gets a looks of realization on his face and nods.

"Right, Sunday." He mutters absentmindedly, before backing out of the room again. "I think that I should probably head to work, then." He pauses to glance down at his watch, only to have his eyes widen fractionally. "Shit! Excuse my language. I've got to go." He says hurriedly, before dashing out of the door. I glance around the room in confusion.

"What time is it?" I ask quietly. Jace points towards the alarm-clock that decorates his white dresser. It's probably the only thing in his entire room that isn't white, besides his clothing of course. The clock reads 10:45am. I look up at Jace from my position on his lap and furrow my brows. "I thought that Izzy and Maia were going to go get pizza. Why would they go get pizza at 10:45 in the morning?" I ask confusedly. Jordan laughs and stands up to stretch.

"They were bored. That's why." He states plainly. I nod slightly, before standing up and walking towards the balcony.

"Where are you going?" Simon asks; his tone slightly panicked. I roll my eyes, but keep on moving towards the railing.

"I'm going to go get dressed, Simon. If you haven't noticed, I'm still in my PJ's." I say slowly, as if talking to a two-year-old, without glancing back at him.

"Don't leave me alone with _him,_ Clary! Please, I beg of you." He calls out to me. I can just see him making doe-eyes at my and pointing at Jace like he is diseased. I scoff and turn back towards the group of boys when I reach the railing.

"You'll be fine. I'll be back in ten minutes. You'll survive." And with that, I start climbing over the railings. I can vaguely hear Jace let out a mock-evil laugh and I chuckle.

* * *

><p>True to my word, I am making my way back over the railings in ten minutes. I am dressed in plain skinny jeans and a band t-shirt. I am carrying a pair of converse with me, because I was too lazy to put them on in my room. When I walk into Jace's room, Simon is cowering in the corner and hugging one of Jace's many pillows to his chest. His knees are brought up to his shoulders, <em>he's really skinny,<em> and he is slowly rocking back and forth. I walk into the room fully, to see that Jace is absent from the picture. I furrow my brows and look around the room again. _No Jace. Huh…_ I turn towards Jon, who is on his phone, and poke his shoulder.

"What?" he mumbles distractedly without looking up at me. I roll my eyes at his rude antics and sit down beside him on Jace's bed.

"Where's Jace?" I ask, thoroughly annoyed already. He points towards the door that leads to Jace's bathroom.

"He's getting dressed." Jon says, still not looking at me. I sigh and flop onto my back on the bed. Jordan, who is still sitting at the top of the bed, quirks an eyebrow at me and nudges my shoulder with his hand.

"You okay?" he asks playfully. "I mean, you did fall pretty hard earlier." He states with an amused smile. I just groan and bury my face into my hands.

"It's not my fault that I was startled. Besides, I have no coordination whatsoever. Like any. _At all._ I'm really innocent, if you think about it. Robert was the one who caused me to fall on my ass-" I suddenly cut myself off and sit up straight, causing Jordan, Alec, Simon, and Seb to look at me worriedly.

"What's wrong?" Seb asks. I smile and shake my head. I shoot up from the bed and run over to the bathroom door.

"Jace! Hurry your ass up! It's important!" I call while banging loudly on the door.

"Coming." Is his muffled response. I excitedly go back over to the bed and sit down, trying to ignore the odd looks that the guys are giving me; well, all but Jon. He's still on his phone.

About one minute later, Jace walks out of his bathroom; shirtless. Of course, this doesn't bother me. We've seen each other practically naked before, but I still like to appreciate his beauty. _Those abs though. _He literally is the epitome of a Greek god. It's almost unfair if you think about it, but I don't like to dwell on things that are out of my control. _Yes you do, _that little annoying voice whispers in the back of my mind. _Shut up. _

One of the sad things about my life is that I am naturally surrounded by beautiful people. Seriously, it's like I only make friends with attractive people. It really doesn't help me self-esteem. Jordan, Jon, Alec, Seb, and Jace all look like Hollister models, Maia and Izzy could be Victoria's Secret Angels, and even Simon is attractive.

Now, me? _Psh, forget about it._ I'm literally 5'2, have bright crimson-red hair, pale skin, and emerald-green eyes. I'm just a midget with red hair and pretty eyes. Nothing else. _Oh, well._ I am brought out of my revere, by Jace walking over to his dresser and pulling out a black t-shirt.

"So, what did you need?" he asks while pulling on his shirt. I almost whimper, but keep myself in check and avoid eye contact. _Not the abs!_ _Don't cover them up. Show them to the world._ I look down at my lap and instantly remember.

"Oh, yeah. Um, I think that I have a name for the band." I say while playing with my fingers. This causes everyone, including Jon, to look at me and gesture for me to continue talking. "Well, what about, 'The Fallen'?" I ask unsurely, still avoiding eye contact. The room is silent for a minute, before I am being lifted into the air and spun around. Instinctively, I scream. _Bloody murder. _I look up and am met with Jace's ecstatic gaze. "Put me down. Now, Herondale." I order, trying to keep my giggles at bay. He complies, only to bring me into a giant bear-hug.

"That's it, Clare! That's it!" he exclaims excitedly. Suddenly, four more bodies crash into ours and capture us into an even larger bear-hug. I look over one of the boys' limbs, and see Simon standing off to the side awkwardly. I go to motion him over, but am interrupted by Jon.

"Why are we hugging?" he asks curiously, causing all of us to laugh. "No, seriously. Why are we hugging?" he repeats, just fueling our laughter.

A while after we separate, Izzy and Maia return with our pizza and we all sit down to eat. We decide to give the band-planning a rest for the day, and to meet at my apartment tomorrow after school. _This can't go well…_

* * *

><p><strong>So, there you go. They got the name. Yay! What did you think? Ideas? Anyone? Oh, well…<strong>

**Definitions:**

**1. Pyromaniac- someone who likes to light things on fire**

**2. Hydromaniac- someone who likes water? I guess…**

**3. Nymphomaniac- a sex addict**

**4. Cleptomaniac- someone who likes to steal things; a thief**

**5. Porphyrophobia- the irrational fear of the color purple**

**Cassandra Clare owns all, except for the plot and my ideas. :)**

**Thanks for reviewing and telling me your thoughts. Enjoy! :D**

**Review&Follow**


	3. Chapter 3

_Clary POV_

I walk through the large metal doors of our school and head towards my locker. I quickly make my way through the crowd that is threatening to swallow me up, and soon I am opening the old, blue piece of metal that I call my locker. I expertly enter my code and start gathering my things for my first class of the day. When I have all of my things together, I start slowly walking down the hallway. Just as I reach the door to my classroom though, a large arm drapes itself over my shoulders. I look to my left and see none other than Jace. I glare at him and slip out of under his arm.

You see, this morning Jace thought that it would be funny to set my alarm for 3:20am. For some reason, he finds endless amusement in my losing several _hours_ of sleep. I have decided to just go out on a limb and make him pay. He usually spends his entire day with me, so I am going to ignore him and not let him touch me all day. That probably sounded really weird, but I have my reasons. Jace always has had a habit of touching me constantly, whether it's just holding my hand or playing with my hair. He's always been that way, ever since when we first became friends, so I have learned to just let him do what he wants, but not until he apologizes for earlier. This is going to be fun, because I've never _not_ let Jace play with my hair, or hold my hand, or even throw an arm around my shoulders. _Get ready for the fun Jace…_

I walk over to my seat, that happens to be right next to Jace's, and plop down lazily; still not looking at or even acknowledging Jace. I vaguely see him walk over to his desk and sit down slowly in his seat, as if in a daze, in my peripheral. He looks over at me with his brows furrowed and biting his lip harshly, looking completely lost. I take a deep breath and take out a notebook to start drawing in. _You will not look at him. You will not. He deserves this. Don't give into his poor, confused, cute look… _I blink rapidly at that last thought and slightly shake my head, before starting to draw a flower. _What the fuck was that about? I mean, sure. Jace is cute; hot even, but everyone with eyes can see that. With his molten-golden hair and equally as golden eyes …. Shut up! He's your best-friend, you slut. Focus on the flower. Yeah, flower… _I mentally scold myself and go back to drawing. I feel something poke my arm and look over to see Jace retracting his pencil. He is looking into my eyes worriedly; all signs of the normal cocky Jace gone.

"What was that earlier?" he asks quietly, carefully glancing towards the door to see if the teacher has come in yet. He hasn't, so Jace looks back at me expectantly. I sigh and look back down at my drawing, adding some shading here and there. I shrug after a moment and try to not notice his eyes narrowing.

"Okay, I see how it is. Two can play at this game, Red. Just be prepared to be destroyed." He says challengingly, but I never get to respond. Right after he finishes his statement, the door to the classroom fries open and in walks Mr. Wayland, our English teacher. He is a middle-aged man with graying-brown hair and kind brown eyes. He smiles slightly at the class and walks over to the board and starts the lesson right after taking roll-call. I sigh again and settle down for the lesson, still trying to avoid Jace's piercing gaze.

* * *

><p>When the bell rings, signaling the end of class, I make a mad-dash towards the door; hoping to avoid Jace so that I don't break my resolve sooner than I have planned. Sadly for me though, Jace is almost twice my size and plays football. That means that he is able to corner me before I can set a foot out of the door. Well, not really corners me; more like he drags me off further down the hallway where no witnesses are before I can escape his grasp.<p>

When he does finally let go though, I try to run around him to no avail. I continue to try though, for about five minutes, before Jace gets frustrated and pins me against the lockers. He places one of his hands on either side of my head and leans in close so that we are almost touching everywhere; except for from our waists down of course. He rests his forehead against mine and our noses brush slightly, causing my breath to catch in my throat. _What the fuck?! _He looks deep into my eyes, like he is reading my soul like an open book.

"What did I do? Why are you mad at me, Clare?" he asks softly, trying to butter me up into giving in. I almost do because of the way his eyes show vulnerability, but I bite my tongue and keep quiet.

He sighs heavily and steps back away from me, letting me breathe normally again. I subtly sick in a deep breath and prepare to make my escape, but something in his expression stops me. He looks troubled and almost, dare I say it, _broken_. His eyes are trained inently on the floor and his hands are fidgeting nervously at his sides. I furrow my brows in concern and take a hesitant step towards him.

"Jace? What's wrong?" I ask quietly, trying to get him to look up at me again. His eyes are still on the floor, so I take another step towards him and poke him gently on his cheek. "Barbie?" I ask teasingly, trying to get him to look at me still.

I see a muscle jump in his cheek, before his eyes finally snap up to mine. Immediately, I know that I made a mistake by the devilish look in his eyes. I quickly step away from him and make a move to start running, but he catches me by around the waist and tackles me to the ground. I grunt and roll over so that I am facing him. _Big mistake._

Do you know that totally cliché moment in movies, when the male specimen and the female specimen are just a little too close to each other and they soon end up having a _very_ _hot_ make-out session? Well, you could say that Jace and I are almost at the first step. He is hovering over me with a wide grin plastered onto his smug face and has his hands planted on either side of my head, once again. I swallow nervously, completely aware of how close we are, and look up into his eyes.

"Jace, get off. We're on the floor _in the middle of the hallway! _We're going to be late for class." I manage to squeak out, desperately trying to shove him off of me. He makes his eyes big and innocent and pouts; _in the most adorable way, might I add. Shut up! _I internally roll my eyes at myself, before pushing at his chest again.

"But, I want to cuddle." He whines childishly, moving closer to me and letting more of his weight weigh me down. I gasp and push at his chest harder, fighting off the smile that is threatening to take over my features. "Why don't you want to cuddle with me, Clary? I'm so cold. Please." He says in a mock-cute voice. I groan and wheeze when he full-out lies down on top of me. I start slapping one of my hands down onto the ground after he doesn't move and push even harder at his lean body, trying to make him get off of me.

"Jace, your suffocating me. Your _fat ass _is crushing my body! Move!" I manage to gasp out, a slight teasing smile plastered onto my face against my will. He chuckle deeply and stands up, leaving me on the ground gasping for air. I overdramatically lay still and suck in several deep breaths, causing Jace to burst out laughing.

"Oh, come on. I'm not that heavy, you wimp. Now, get up." He demands lightly, reaching down and pulling me up by one of my hands.

I stumble slightly at first, but Jace steadies me, and then we start making our way towards our next class. Jace and I, coincidentally, have the same schedule, so I don't get a break from him all day. Sometimes it's bearable, but most of the time, like right now, I want to feed his mangled carcass to a Barracuda and watch it get devoured. _Was that a little too morbid? Yes, yes it was. _Jace slings an arm over my shoulders and keeps it there while we walk closer to the history classroom, despite my best efforts of removing it. Before we enter the classroom, where our class has already started might I add, he turns me towards him and grabs ahold of my shoulders; holding me in place.

"Why are you mad at me?" he asks, sounding slightly worried. "And don't you even _think _about shrugging or staying silent. I know that I did something, though I can't imagine what, so you have to tell me. Right. Now." He adds when I don't show any signs of responding. I sigh and lean into his hands slightly. I bow my head and clear my throat, before speaking.

"Iwasmadaboutwhatyoudidthismorningtomyalarmclock,soIdecidedtomakeyoupayforyouractions." I mumble incoherently, causing Jace to lean towards me and raise an eyebrow in question.

"What did you say? Sorry, I don't speak gibberish." He states playfully. I sigh and look down at my feet, which are suddenly very interesting.

"I was mad about what you did this morning to my alarm-clock, so I decided to make you pay for your actions." I murmur a little clearer. His eyes widen and he sputters out an amused laugh, before drawing me towards him and wrapping his arms around my slight frame.

"So, you decided to ignore me and make me feel like I actually did something bad; just because I messed with your alarm-clock?! I thought that I did something that actually matters, not deprive you of a few hours of sleep!" he exclaims quietly into my ear. I can almost _hear_ the self-satisfied smile in his voice, but I am too busy glowering into Jace's t-shirt to actually do anything about it.

"It's not funny!" I declare stubbornly, stepping away from his arms that were previously crushing my body to his. "I could've slept in for almost three hours. _Three!"_ I point an accusing finger at him and glare, but on the inside I am trying to fight back a smile at his overjoyed face. He just laughs loudly and ruffles my hair.

"You really are_ too_ cute sometimes, you know." He states factually, causing me to grin up at him and stick my tongue out. He smiles down at me fondly and gets a hopeful look in his eyes. "So, am I forgiven?" he asks, his tone as hopeful as his eyes. I roll my eyes and nod. He fist-bumps the air, but is interrupted by the door to the classroom opening.

We both immediately quiet down and look over towards our history teacher, Mrs. Brown. She glares at us and points to the open door, motioning for us to get into the classroom. We quickly obey and quietly take our seats, snickering to ourselves the whole time. Jace reaches his hand down towards mine underneath of the table and I give him a high-five. He sends me a secret smile, before turning towards the front and paying attention to the almost-over class. I do the same, but don't really pay attention. The only thing that is on my mind is, _Dammit, Clary! Why did you have to give in so quickly? You were supposed to torture him… Oh, well…_

* * *

><p>When I get home from school, I go straight for the fridge and throw open the door. I quickly take out the box of cold pizza that is sitting on one of the shelves and set it on the counter. I hear the front door open and slam shut, signaling Jon's arrival, and then several pairs of feet stomping onto the floor. I furrow my brows in confusion, but get distracted by the pizza that is sitting so conveniently in front of me. I pick up a slice, just as Jon and whoever else is with him waltz into the kitchen. To my surprise the guest is Max Lightwood, the youngest of the Lightwoods and Jace's adoptive little brother. He smiles hugely when he sees me and comes barreling towards me to give me a hug. I drop my pizza back down into the box and wrap my arms around the small nine-year-old's frame.<p>

"Hey, Max. What's up, buddy?" I ask kindly, separating myself from him and inspecting his appearance.

His glasses are slightly askew, big pale-blue eyes stare up at me curiously, and his hair is ruffled messily. His t-shirt has manga characters on it and his jeans have holes in the knees of them; completing the perfect 'outfit' for a nine-year-old boy. In his hands he holds a thick novel with more illustrated characters on it, the tell-tale sign that he has been reading more manga. I smirk at that, slightly amused at the fact that I was the one who introduced, and eventually got Max addicted, to the books. His already large smile widens noticeably and he holds up his book.

"I just got back from Forbidden Planet. Mom said that I could get some new comics too, but…" he starts to ramble on and on about some new comic-comic book that he bought, but his words basically fly right over my head and out of the metaphorical window. I nod along to his words and smile brightly down at the excited boy, whilst sneaking longing glances down at the abandoned pizza-box that is within reach. _So close, but so far away… _

I vaguely see Jon smile and wave mockingly at me, before retreating from the kitchen and leaving me to listen to Max's consistent babbling. I internally curse him out, but pretend to be interested into the small boy's speech. After he is finally done talking, I furrow my brows in confusion and narrow my eyes at him.

"Max… Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at your own apartment doing, oh I don't know, _homework?"_ I ask teasingly, causing him to grin at me and dash out of the kitchen before I can even tell him to wait. A moment later, I hear the front door slam shut, so I know that Max has gone home. I smile faintly and pick up my piece of cold-pizza again. I take an overly large bite out of the slice and shake my head slightly. _That little boy it too cute for his own good…_

* * *

><p>About an hour later, I decide to head over to Jace's so that we can have our next 'band meeting'. I climb over our balconies and knock loudly on his closed door. It most likely isn't locked, but I find endless amusement in scaring Mr. 'I am Man and Man is me'. I hear a loud curse from the other side of the door, causing me to chuckle, before the door is flung open to reveal glaring golden eyes and a scowl that could make a UFC fighter cry. <em>Good thing that I'm immune to Jace's death-glare, <em>I muse while walking into his room and plopping down onto him bed. I hear him sigh in frustration and see him run a hand through his hair quickly.

"Why do you always insist on disturbing my peace, Woman? I could've been shaving or something and I might have cut my jugular. How would you feel then, huh? You'd be responsible for ridding the dark, gloomy world of its only patch of sunlight." He cries dramatically, fixing his features into those of mock-anger. I giggle into my hand softly, while he walks over to his bed and flops down onto his stomach beside me.

I look down at his face intently, before starting to play with his hair. It has grown out too much, so it hangs down over his ears and curls slightly at the ends. I take both of my hands and start bringing it up to the crown of his head, forming a makeshift hair-tie with one of my hands, before taking out one of my own hair-ties from one of my braids and tying it around his hair. I lean back slightly and admire my masterpiece, or disaster. _It all depends on how you look at it._

He looks like a Yorkie with a ponytail after it has been groomed. Needless to say, he looks like he was recently playing dress-up with a bunch of five-year-old girls. I chuckle quietly and look into his eyes, which are trained dazedly onto my face. They have this cloudy look to them, as if he just woke up from a really good dream, and are studying my face like it's a college final; wanting to get everything right. I smile down at him and pat the poof-y thing that I have just created on top of his head, successfully bringing him out of his trance. He blinks a few times, before smiling and jumping off of the bed. He walks into his bathroom and looks in the mirror. His eyes widen and he laughs incredulously, while poking and prodding the small tale-like thing that is on top of his head.

"What the fuck did you _do_ to me?" he asks amusedly, walking back into the room and fixing me with one of his trademark, captivating stares. I shrug and look down at my lap casually, trying to get him to stop staring at me like that.

"I made you look pretty." I state completely serious, fighting off the small smirk that is pulling at the corners of my mouth. He shakes his head and laughs under his breath, before posing and pursing his lips like a model.

"Do I look photo-ready?" he questions playfully. I smile and nod while biting my lip, causing him to grin at me and start strutting in front of his bed. He walks like he's on a runway and stops when he reaches the other side of his room. "You wanna be on top?" he sings lightly when he turns to face me again, causing me to burst out laughing.

"D-did you just sing the 'America's Next Top Model' theme song?" I ask incredulously in between fits of laughter.

"On top." He just sings under his breath instead of responding, before continuing to strut across his room. When he reaches the door that leads to the rest of the apartment he turns back towards me to say something, but said door flies open before he even has the chance. He swivels around quickly, momentarily caught off guard, before smiling and ushering whoever it is that opened the door inside of the room. I hear stifled laughter from outside of the door and stand up to go see why nobody has entered the room yet. Jon, Jordan, Alec, Seb, Izzy, and Maia are all crowded in the hallway, all of their faces red with thinly concealed laughter. Jordan coughs slightly, a hint of a chuckle escaping before he can stop himself, and looks at Jace with an eyebrow raised.

"Hey, ugh, Buddy?" he starts, a grin splitting his handsome features in half. "What's up with your hair? It looks like you let Pepper, from _American Horror Story,_ style your hair, there." He states, causing the whole group to laugh loudly. I even let a few giggles escape me, before walking over to Jace and dragging him further into the room, so that the rest of the group can enter. He is scowling fiercely at them, but still makes no move to fix his hair.

"I'll have you know," he begins stiffly, amusement trying to seep into his tone but he holds it back for the effect. "that our very own Flame over here has graced me with her styling skills. She wants to go to get her cosmetology degree, so she asked me to let her practice on my gorgeous-self. Of course, being the generous saint that I am, I let her do it whole-heartedly. I personally think that I am fit for the runway." He states with a serious expression plastered onto his lips. The laughter almost immediately dies down, and then I am left with six incredulous stares directed pointedly at me.

"Are you _serious, _Clarissa? You? _Cosmetology?_" Jon asks, thoroughly amused. I groan and sit down heavily onto Jace's bed.

"No. He was just kidding. Besides, I don't even wear make-up to _school_; why would I ever want to do that for a _living?_ Seriously Jon, it's like you don't eve stop to think about what comes from that annoying hole in your face that you call a mouth." I explain with an eye-roll, before looking around the group again and noticing something missing. "Hey, where's Simon?" I ask confusedly. Izzy smiles at me, whilst everyone else takes their seats in various parts of Jace's room, and shakes her head slightly.

"He said that he '_shouldn't be associating with the enemy'_, or some shit like that." She starts to explain, while seating herself at the top of the bed. "Apparently, our band and his band aren't 'compatible' or whatever he said. I don't really know. All that he told me was that he won't be coming to any of our band-meetings or practices. Just to ensure us that when his band, Lawn Chair Crisis, becomes _famous,_ that we can't accuse him of stealing our ideas or anything stupid like that." She states plainly, sounding completely bored of the subject. "Personally, I think that he got really bored yesterday, so now he's just going to stay home and pay video games or change the name of his band while we practice. He can really be quite the nerd sometimes, I'll tell ya'." She mumbles to herself, but loud enough so that the entire group can still hear her. Jace sighs heavily and seats himself right next to me, draping one of his arms over my shoulders and allowing me to lean into him.

"That's great. We don't need him here anyways. He just aggravates me and talks nonsense…" he starts to rant, but I quickly cut him off by pinching his side and glaring at him from out of the corner of my eye. He clears his throat slightly before continuing to speak. "So, about the band…"

* * *

><p><strong>Yay… I guess. There's the next chapter. Enjoy!<strong>

**Please let me know what you think about the story so far, it means a lot to me. Thanks. :D**

**Cassandra Clare owns all, except for the plot and my ideas… you know the drill… :)**

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	4. Chapter 4

_Clary POV_

I knock on the door impatiently, tired of standing outside in the cold for Seb to open the door. We are all, with the exception of Simon, gathered at Seb's house to initiate the very first band practice. _Apparently, you have to practice your music if you want to become famous, _note the sarcasm there. The door swings open after about a minute of constant pounding, and Seb's flustered face appears in front of us.

"Hey, guys. Sorry, I totally spaced that we were having practice at my house. My aunt showed up really late last night, so we have to be quiet when we're in the house. She's been in a mood all day." He explains sheepishly, while ushering us inside of his house and out of the rain. For some reason, the weather decided to be a bitch today. _Fuck Mother Nature. Or don't, it's you that will be doing the fucking… _

Seb leads us through the house quickly, placing a finger to his lips when we come into the living room. He walks silently through the room and takes us to the backdoor, but before we can exit, a voice stops us in our tracks.

"_Sebastian Verlac!_ Just where do you think you're going with all of these teenagers, young man." The voice screeches, sounding distinctively familiar. Our group spins around, to come face to face with Seb's aunt, Elodie Verlac. She hasn't changed a bit, from her posh clothing to her acute temper. Her scowl could send an entire biker gang running for the hills and her entire posture practically screams _'I'm PMS-ing 24/7'._ In other words, she scares the absolute _shit_ out of all of us; save Jace of course. He's probably the only one who can get on her good side, but we all know that she's just a fifty-year-old Cougar on the hunt.

You see, the Verlacs are one of the 'rich' families in New York. Seb's father is a very successful therapist, whom tries to get all of his friends to spill their feelings at his every beck-and-call, and therefore owns a large mansion-like house. We all agreed to practice here, because Seb's the only one out of the entire group that lives in an actual house. The rest of us live in apartments. For example: Izzy, Alec, Jace, Jon, and I all live at the Institute, while Jordan and Maia live at their own apartments with their parents. They live in the same building though, so it makes it easier for them to date; with Jordan dropping out of high-school and all.

I am brought out of my thoughts, by Elodie squealing annoyingly and tackling Jace in a bear-hug. His eyes widen comically, before he pushes her off of him and hides behind me. He grips my shoulders firmly and moves me in front of him like a shield.

"What are you doing?" he demands, his tone sounding slightly scared. I chuckle internally. _You always flirt with her, not that it's your fault; you flirt with everyone, so she probably thinks that you guys are like 'connected' or some shit like that. _She pouts and tries to hug him again, but just ends up colliding softly with my body; which Jace has conveniently moved in her way. _Jackass. _

"I'm giving you a hug, Jay. I thought that you wanted one. I mean, you always look at me when I'm here." She states, completely oblivious of Jace shuddering when she says 'Jay'.

"Okay, first of all, it's_ Jace; _not _Jay._ Second of all, I don't look at you when you're here. I was simply being polite. Third of all, I don't want a hug! No." he exclaims, his voice sounding desperate and his eyes pleading with her to understand that he doesn't want her. She simply smiles at him slowly, probably trying to be seductive, and giggles lowly.

"You're just lying because you're in front of your friends. Well, I like to _lie_ too. Just my type of lying includes _you," _she points a bony finger at him. "and my _bed." _She finishes off with a slimy wink, before walking back to wherever it was that she came from; being sure to sway her hips while walking. I look behind me at Jace, to see him staring after her with wide eyes and looking like he is about to throw-up. I turn around fully and place a hand on his cheek, bringing his attention from where the creepy lady used to be to me.

"Are you okay? You look a little green, there." I ask softly, trying to soothe him as much as possible. He numbly shakes his head and bites his lip.

"Did you see the way she was looking at me? It was like she was mentally raping me." He whispers hollowly, causing me to wrap my arms around his larger frame and sigh.

"Well, that's what you get for flirting with every living thing on the planet, _Jay._" I say teasingly, drawing beck from the hug. He shakes his head again, before turning to Seb and pointing to the door.

"We need to practice. Now." He orders, sounding like he wasn't just about to throw-up. Seb nods slightly, his facial expression completely bewildered, and opens the backdoor. Our group quickly makes its way through the rain across the small basketball court that is in front of the garage, and soon we are walking into the dry garage.

The relatively large room is empty, aside from a massive drum-set and about ten large amps. I look around and notice sound reflectors and a small room on the far wall of the garage. The room appears to be a sound-room with a large piece of plexi-glass for the front of it. The entire group turns towards Seb with questioning gazes wondering exactly _why_ he has his own sound-room in the garage. He just shrugs and walks further into the garage.

"My dad had a control-room put in when I decided to start playing the drums. It's been there for years." He states, while opening the door to the control-room. He holds up a finger to us, signaling for us to '_wait a minute',_ before walking inside.

Not even a minute later, bright lights flare up the garage; allowing us to see all of the details. I almost gasp at how high-tech it is; the room isn't that empty at all. It's just neatly arranged around the four walls. Red and black paint covers the walls in an hourglass pattern, cords and plug-ins run all over the floor, three microphones are set on top of their stands, and a large see-through shelving system hangs in mid-air on the left wall. The garage-door itself is on the right side of the of the room, so we won't be having any trouble getting everyone's instruments in. I try to absorb everything, but someone interrupts the silence before I can.

"_What the hell, man?_ Why haven't we ever been in here before? We've known you since, like, the third grade!" Jon exclaims loudly, causing Seb to poke his head out of the control-room and grin.

"I've never had a reason to show you guys it. That's why." He states smugly, outwardly enjoying Jon's incredulous expression. He disappears again momentarily, and then he is walking over to the garage-door and pressing the square button that opens it. After it opens successfully, he turns back towards us and grins. "Okay, Alec go get your car, and then we can _get this party started right_." He sings the last part lamely, causing the rest of us to laugh. Alec salutes him, before running out of the garage and back into the rain to retrieve his car.

Around five minutes later, Alec's car is pulling up in front of the now-open garage door and Alec is turning off the car. Jace, Jordan, and Jon all go out and help get the instruments from the car, while Maia, Izzy, and I go into the control-room to find places to sit down.

When we enter, we all simultaneously gasp. A large soundboard is placed onto a large, black table in front of the plexi-glass window, two plush office-chairs are placed in front of the soundboard, four giant bean-bags have been set in the back of the small room, and to top it all off, a vintage retro-fridge is located in the far-left corner of the room.

We all look at each other and grin, before throwing each of ourselves onto a bean-bag. I sigh in contentment and look out of the window, looking to see if the guys have finished unloading the car yet. The must be, because the garage-door is closing and I can slightly see figures moving around from my spot of the bean-bag.

I am brought back to Izzy and Maia, by someone pinching my side and somebody else slapping the back of my head. I wince and look quickly to both of my sides, trying to find the culprit for my unnecessary pain. Maia is looking at me innocently while Izzy glares at me fully, not even trying to hide the fact that she just slapped the absolute _shit_ out of my head. _Bitch…_

"Ow! What the fuck?!" I ask incredulously, death-glaring both of my supposed 'friends' harshly. They both just shrug and settle back down into their bean-bags, before responding.

"You should've been listening. As we were saying before," Izzy starts, her tone dripping with false-toxin. I roll my eyes and lean back on my own bean-bag, wanting her to get her speech over with already. "Do you guys _actually_ think that they'll be successful, or that they'll totally suck _ass?_" she inquires quietly; as if to not let the boys_, who are in a totally different room might I add_, hear her. I stay silent and look towards the ceiling in boredom. Maia clears her throat slightly and shifts unsurely in her seat.

"Well, truthfully?" she asks softly, waiting for Izzy's response before actually answering her question. Izzy nods vigorously and glances towards the door cautiously, causing me to roll my eyes. _We're in a sound-room, dipshit. You don't have to act like an axe-murderer is going to barge into the room if you accidentally hurt the guys' feelings. _Maia also looks towards the door, before sighing and slouching back into her seat. "I honestly think that they're going to sound like shit, but they've been really excited about this idea, so I'll support them for the time being." She states quietly, her head ducked into her chest and her arms lying limply by her sides. I sigh and stand up to stretch, shaking my head in exasperation the whole way. Izzy turns towards me sharply and narrows her eyes into menacing slits.

"Have something to say, _Clarissa?_" she practically hisses, causing me to wince internally at the sound of my full name. _Who pissed in her Cheerios this morning? _I sigh, again, and walk over to the soundboard casually.

"Nope." I pop the 'p' for extra effect, just to annoy her. "I just don't get why you guys are being so pessimistic about them forming a band. I mean, I didn't even _want_ to be the manager, but here I am. I still agreed to come, not that Jace really gave me a choice, but that's beside the point. I'm still supporting them fully. Not _'for the time being'._" I state hotly, completely over hearing them trash-talk my best-friend and brother.

Sometimes, I can get a little over-protective of my friends and family. _But that's really rare._ I hear Izzy mumble something under her breath and turn towards her pointedly.

"'_Have something to say, Isabelle?'"_ I ask mockingly. She glowers up at me from her spot on her bean-bag and sighs dramatically.

"I said, '_Sorry for voicing my opinions, Hitler.'"_ She states sarcastically. I bite my lip to keep my smile hidden, but I completely lose it when Maia snorts loudly. I start laughing hysterically, and soon we're all laughing._ For absolutely no reason at all. _

We do this whole charade often, believe it or not. The whole '_arguing and then laughing like the little maniacs that we are'_ thing, I mean. Like, we'll be having a very serious argument about a life-or-death situation, and then one of us will just randomly start laughing and the rest will soon follow. _Yeah, don't even ask…_

About a minute later, when we have seemed to calm ourselves down, Maia looks back and forth between us with a confused expression on her face.

"Why did we just start cackling like _fucking witches_?" she asks curiously, causing me to giggle and Izzy to make a confused noise in the back of her throat.

"I have _absolutely_ no idea." Izzy states dazedly. Maia looks towards me and raises an eyebrow, to which I respond my shrugging.

"Don't look at me. I just found the whole 'Hitler' remark hilarious. I'm not actually sure why though…" I trail off as the door to the control-room opens. The three of us look over towards the door, to see Seb and Jace standing there awkwardly.

"Um… We're going to get started… I guess…" Seb starts unsurely, looking down at the soundboard and back at Jace quickly. Jace sighs, like the drama-queen that he is, and walks further into the room.

"Clare, we need you to 'monitor' the soundboard; or something like that." He states plainly, grabbing my arm and dragging me over to the soundboard and pushing me down into one of the plush chairs. I scowl up at him and kick his shin harshly. _Sadly for me though, I can't kick worth shit._ He doesn't even wince as he winks at me and turns back towards Seb, who is watching me with careful eyes. "Are we ready to get started yet?" Jace asks impatiently. Seb sighs and nods reluctantly.

"Oh, Clary…" he starts as Jace starts to pull him out of the control-room. "Just don't press any buttons on the soundboard. It was expensive." And with that, Jace drags him out of the small room and back into the main part of the garage. I settle down into my seat with one final resigned sigh and wait for them to start.

* * *

><p><em>Oh. My. God. <em>

That's the only thing that is going through my mind as we all, save Seb since he lives at _his house_, make our way back to Alec's car. They were actually pretty good. I thought that it would be impossible to actually like this whole 'band' idea, but I have to give the boys credit. They can actually make decent music together.

Seb is amazing at the drums, Alec isn't half-bad at the bass, Jordan is alright on the guitar; hence the reason that we proclaimed that he be the back-up guitarist, Jon has been playing the electric guitar for years; so he's the lead-guitarist, and Jace, _not surprisingly_, sings like a sexy angel. _And no, it's not weird to think that about your best-friend… I think…_ All in all, they rocked. _Literally. _I was really surprised at their song choices though, I'll have to say.

Jace was in charge of choosing the first song that they 'cover', or whatever you call it, so the little dipshit had to choose one of my favorite songs. _I mean, I didn't want them to butcher it and ruin the song for me, but they surprised me. Again._

The song was '_The Giving Tree' _by _The Plain White T's, _so it wasn't very hard for them to play. Jace has a voice that sounds almost like a younger version of Jared Leto. _As I said, almost._ The guys really changed the format of the song too, so it sounded more punk-rock instead of the calming rhythm that it was originally.

Anyway, The Fallen was on their way to becoming something great; or as Maia put it, '_To destroy the eardrums of the innocent'._ Truth be told, they weren't that bad. I even made Izzy and Maia apologize to the guys after practice ended, because apparently, Jace and Seb overheard our earlier conversation and were 'hurt'. _Yeah, 'hurt' my ass._

I am brought out of my thoughts, by the car pulling up in front of The Institute. We all file out of the Alec's SUV and start towards the front door. As I am walking, I notice Jace come up to me and throw an arm over my shoulders. I lean into his side and wrap one of my arms around his waist lightly.

"Hey." I say casually, as we make our way through the lobby.

The Institute is a very _classy_ apartment building. Madame Dorthea must've had an obsession with marble when she had this place built, because the entire lobby is decorated with it. Marble floors, marble sculptures, marble this, and marble that. It's _everywhere, _except for the actual apartments, of course. All of our apartments are very large, like they have around five bedrooms in each one, but they are decorated like the outside of The Institute; plain and old-fashioned.

"Hey, Clare. What'd you think about practice today, huh? Was I any good?" Jace's teasing voice brings me back to reality. I look up at him and smile widely.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. Yes you were. Where'd you learn to sing like that, _Asshole_?" I exclaim, while pushing him slightly away from me. He chuckles and lightly shoves me in return.

"I told you before, I'm awesome at _everything_. Everything!" he declares triumphantly, stepping away from me again and gesturing around him wildly. I giggle and shake my head at him.

"Not _everything_. You're afraid of ducks. Y'know, the small, yellow creatures that happen to inhabit Central Park." I hint at him playfully, knowing fully well of what his response will be. His eyes grow wide for a split-second, before he glares at me and presses the button for the elevator. I look around and notice that we are the only two that are left in the lobby, meaning that the rest of the group has already gone upstairs whilst we were talking. Well, Alec, Izzy, and Jon that is; Jordan took his own car and drove Maia home already. The door to the elevator opens before Jace can respond and we get in quickly. Jace presses the button with a '3' on it, for our floor, and leans against one of the walls of the elevator.

"You just won't let that go, will you?" he questions tiredly, like my existence is too exhausting for him to bear. _Love you too, Dick-wad. _

"No. I will not let go of the one thing that can bring Jace Herondale back down to my level." I state, not noticing my mistake until it is too late. He smirks smugly at me and straightens up, before walking over to me and craning his neck so that we are staring into each other's eyes. _Have I ever mentioned how absolutely captivating his eyes are… Shut up, Clary! Now's not the time!_

"Well, that's going to be a _little_ hard for you, Sweetheart. I mean you're like, what? Five-foot? Maybe five-foot-two?" he asks devilishly, grinning down at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

_Again with the eyes… Dammit, Clarissa! Think good thoughts; not bad ones about your _best-friend_! Whom, might I add, has a mother-fucking girlfriend, you slut. _I sigh and back up against the far wall of the elevator, needing to create space between me and Jace before I do something stupid. _I need to get my head on straight. This is Jace you're talking about. Jace! You need to start thinking clearly and stop these dangerous thoughts, before they get out of control. _

You see, Jace has a girlfriend. Although not a very nice one, _translation: she's a bitch, _Jace has asked me several times to be nice to her. And I try, but she is the epitome of the word 'harlot'. She's basically the school slut, but she only sleeps with Jace. Well, at least that's how it's been ever since they started dating. Said whore's name is Kaelie Whitewillow. _I know right? Who the fuck spells their name like that? But whatever… _

Anyway, to sum things up, we hate each other. Just like all of the other cliché movies, where the best-friend has a girlfriend and the other best-friend hates her guts. The only difference between my life and one of those movies though, is that I am not 'in love' with Jace. I'm not really 'in love' with anybody.

I literally decided that I am going to become a recluse for the rest of my life around three years ago. That was when I fell 'in love' with David Boreanaz. _Don't judge me for thinking that an older man is hot. He is amazing. Sadly though, he's 45 and I'm only 16. My life sucks ass… _I was crushed after I google searched him, like a stalker, and found out that he has a wife and two kids_. My love-life will never be the same…_

The elevator doors open, signaling to us that we are at our floor, so I quickly make my way out of the metal box and head straight for my apartment. I vaguely hear Jace calling for me to stop, but I just unlock my door and go into my apartment.

"I'm really tired right now, Jace. I'll talk to you later or something, okay?" I say to him before I close the door completely. I hear him inhale a deep breath, before sighing and nodding.

"Alright. Call me later please, Clare." He says in a resigned tone, before going into his own apartment and allowing me to close my door completely.

I quickly make my way to my room and flop down onto my bed, making sure to draw my curtains closed beforehand. I sigh into one of my pillows and finally let my mind relax. _Where the hell are all of these thoughts coming from, and why am I starting to think this way now?_

* * *

><p><strong>So… yeah. There's the next chapter. Enjoy! Just in case you guys were wondering, I will be doing the next chapter in Jace's POV. Yay! :D<strong>

**Cassandra Clare owns all, except for the plot and my ideas.**

**Notes from the story:**

_**David Boreanaz: he plays 'Booth' is bones. He's amazing and I love him!**_

_**Jared Leto: he is the lead-singer for 30 Seconds to Mars.**_

**Okay, that's all I got. Bye. :D**

**Review&Follow**


	5. Chapter 5

_Jace POV_

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The alarm blares loudly into my ear, officially startling me out of my peaceful slumber. I groggily sit up and turn off the alarm-clock, blinking rapidly all the while. I groan tiredly and sit up, glancing at the alarm-clock on the way. 7:15am. I sigh and get out of my warm bed, and then go into my bathroom. I shut and lock the door, before stripping down and out of my clothes and hopping into the shower. _I must look presentable for when I go scare the shit out of Clary_, I think with a smile on my face. I turn the water on to the hottest temperature and let my mind relax momentarily.

You see, I find endless amusement in waking Clary up before she needs to be. It really makes my day when she walks around school looking like a zombie; _in the cutest way, of course. _Besides, she ends up having to lean on me to stay upright most of the time, and I can't deny that I enjoy it. She literally is like a cute little kitten when she cuddles up to me unconsciously. _Wow, I sound like a mother-fucking pansy right now…_

Clary and I have been best-friends ever since I moved into her apartment building when we were both 10-years-old. She basically knows me inside and out, and I her. We do everything together; from getting into numerous detentions because of talking during class, to setting her dad's car on fire on Labor Day. _You don't even want to know._ We're kind of like the lame version of Zack and Cody Martin. Except, Clary's a girl and we don't live in a hotel; though The Institute could be classified as a really crappy hotel. _That you live in?_

I sigh at my mental rambling, before turning off the water and stepping out of the shower. I wrap a towel around my hips loosely and take a moment to take in my appearance in the large mirror that has been placed above the sink. Dark golden eyes, silky blonde hair that falls just past my ears, lean and muscular build, and you can't forget the abs. In truth, I am exceedingly handsome. Some might even classify me as 'totally fuck-able'. _I would if I could, but I can't, so I won't,_ as I always say. I smirk at myself and wink cheekily, before walking out of the bathroom to go get dressed.

I lazily pull on a black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of dark-washed skinny jeans. _Shower: Check. Get dressed: Check. Annoy the absolute fuck out of Clary: No-Check. _I grab my school-bag, dry my hair off slightly so that it's not dripping onto my shoulders, and glance at the clock again, before starting towards the my window. _Okay, so it's currently 7:30. School starts at 8:00, so that gives my about 15 minutes to wake Clary up and get into Alec's car in order to be on time. I can do that, _I think as I climb across the small gap that separates me and Clary's rooms.

When I am safely on the ground again, I quietly look around Clary's room. Same bright-green walls, large white comforter placed onto her bed, art supplies laid out messily onto her old oak desk, and band-memorabilia scattered everywhere. She has a slight obsession with 30 Seconds to Mars' lead singer, so yeah. _In my opinion, I'm hotter than him by a landslide, but that's just me; and the entire earth's population, but whatever. Personally, I think that I sing better than him too, so-_

I am interrupted out of my internal self-praise, by the door to her bathroom opening. In my evaluation of Clary's bedroom, I forgot to look for the one thing that I actually came here for. Clary. She walks out of her bathroom with a towel wrapped around her small body and another one around her head. She really has grown within the past two years. I mean, she hasn't gotten any taller; hence all of the small-jokes that I crack daily, but her body has started to form itself into an actual girl's body. _Translation: She has boobs now._ She looks up, startled, when she notices me standing in the middle of her room and gasps sharply. When she realizes that I'm not an axe-murderer, _or am I, _she sighs and walks over to her dresser to get clothes.

"What're you doing here, Jace?" she asks playfully, already knowing my answer.

You see, I come into her room almost every morning. I wake her up because she never remembers to set an alarm like a normal person, she cusses at me thoroughly, I laugh, she gets dressed after shooing me out of her room, and then we eat breakfast together with her parents before Alec calls me and we leave for school. It's almost like an unsaid routine, since we do it every morning. That is, except for _this_ morning. _Why the fuck is she awake already? Is this the apocalypse?!_

"Why are you awake?" I ask curiously, while flinging myself down onto her bed. She sighs and grabs a pile of clothing, before disappearing into her bathroom once more.

"I was doing some research about getting you guys a gig, and I just lost track of time." She calls through the door, her voice slightly muffled. I nod to myself and grin.

"So…" I trail off curiously, waiting for her to continue talking. I hear her giggle and I smile to myself. _I love that sound. It's just so cute… Stop! You're being a pussy again!_

"I got 'The Fallen' a gig at Pandemonium on Friday night at 8:00. It's apparently one of those 'upcoming stars' events, so you guys will be performing in front of some high-end scouts; kind of like in football, except for music." She explains, causing me to stand up from her bed and grab my phone out of my bag.

"Thank you! You rock, Clare!" I declare, while texting the rest of the guys the good news. She exits the bathroom, now completely dressed in her regular t-shirt and jeans, and gathers her things for school as I finish up texting the guys.

"That means that you guys will have to practice really hard though. You only have four days until you have to perform; and it's you guys' first gig, might I add." She says casually, as she picks up her black messenger-bag and slings at onto her shoulder. I nod and hoist my own bag up onto my shoulder, before starting towards the door that leads to the rest of her apartment.

"Okay. We should be good enough off by then. I mean, we_ have_ been practicing for about two weeks now." I state confidently. She smiles up at me and nods, before joining me by the door and leading us into the hallway towards the kitchen.

It's true, that we have been practicing for two weeks. Things have come along really well so far, we're even going to start trying to write our own songs instead of just doing covers soon. According to Clary, our band isn't as bad as she originally thought that it would be. She even complimented us on our talent and bought us all ice-cream last week after every practice. _We practiced every day last week, so she bought us ice-cream a lot. Needless to say, she's going to go broke if she keeps it up. Not that I'm complaining, but…_

"Are you hungry?" she asks, successfully bringing me out of my thoughts. I nod vigorously and grin.

"I'm always hungry. Do you even have to ask anymore?" I ask teasingly. She just sticks her tongue out at me and grabs a box of Pop-tarts out of the pantry.

"Your meal, Sire." She exclaims while handing me the box, bowing lowly to get her point across.

"Why thank you, Peasant. Now, fetch the toaster and we shall toast these tarts!" I declare dramatically, pointing a finger towards the toaster that is sat on the counter behind her. She furrows her brows and straightens up, looking at me weirdly the entire time.

"Why? You don't need to toast them. You just eat them raw…" she says unsurely, looking between me and the toaster several times during her speech. I chuckle and ruffle her hair, just to annoy her.

"Nope. You have to toast them, or you're eating them alive. Haven't you seen the commercials?" I inquire as seriously as I can, while moving past her and plugging in the toaster. I have to bite my lip to keep the laugh that threatens to break free when I see her horrified face at bay.

"Where the fuck-" she starts, only to get cut off by an amused voice behind her.

"Language, Clarissa." Her father scolds mockingly, as he walks into the kitchen and starts pouring himself a cup of coffee. I see her visually wince at the sound of her full name and smirk to myself. _She has never liked her name, for as long as I've known her. _Her father looks between us both and raises an eyebrow at the Pop-tarts, which I have already placed into the toaster. "Why are you cooking them? You just eat them raw…" he mumbles under his breath. I sigh. _Like father, like daughter._ Clary smiles sheepishly at him and sits down at the large breakfast-bar.

"Sorry, Daddy." She says innocently, blinking up at him angelically. I roll my eyes and turn my back to them, watching the toaster for when it finishes cooking.

"So," Mr. Morgenstern starts. "What are you kids up to today?" he asks, his tone sounding particularly bored with where this conversation is going. The Pop-tarts spring up from the metal box, so I quickly try to retrieve them from the scalding toaster.

"Nothing much. Go to school, talk back to teachers, and get detention for the eighth time this month. Y'know, the usual." I hear Clary state casually as I drop the Pop-tarts down onto a paper-plate, because the Morgenstern's don't like to use any of their actual plates. Apparently it saves them from having to do the dishes or something. Who really knows? _What about the trees, huh? How do you think they feel about you wasting their manufactured corpses; just so that you guys don't have to wash a couple of dishes? In the dishwasher, might I add._ Mr. Morgenstern chuckles and I turn around to face them again, baring my freshly-toasted treats.

"Now, I highly doubt that you guys have been in detention _eight_ times this month. I've only gotten three calls at work from the school. Get you facts straight." He says teasingly, taking a sip of his coffee and moving towards the front door. I take an unreasonably large bight out of my Pop-tart and hand the other one to Clary, who lifts both eyebrows up at me and hesitantly takes my offering. I swallow my food and lean against the countertop, while looking thoughtfully into the distance. _For suspense, I assure you. _

"No," I start mock-thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure that we've been in Wayland's cell-block at leastfive times this month. _At least._" I state playfully, watching Clary with an amused expression as she unsurely takes a small bite out of her Pop-tart. She chews for a good minute, before nodding her approval in my direction and taking another bite. "I told you that they're better when you cook them." I declare quietly, sending a knowing smirk in her direction. She swallows, pokes her tongue out at me, and stands up from her spot at the counter, before picking up her bag and disappearing into the hallway that leads to the bedrooms momentarily.

"Well, I sure hope not." Mr. Morgenstern says lightly, picking up his briefcase and adjusting his jacket before opening the door that leads to the rest of The Institute. I nod in his direction and smile at him as he walks out of the door.

"Bye, Mr. Morgenstern." I call out to him. He groans and sticks his head back into the apartment momentarily, scowling at me mockingly.

"Don't call me that! How many times do I have to tell you; it's Val or Valentine. I'm too young to be called that." He practically whines, causing me to chuckle and nod.

"Alright, Valley Boy." I say brightly, smiling cheekily at him. He rolls his eyes and sighs tiredly.

"I'll never understand why my daughter tolerates you, Jace." he says quietly, more to himself than to me. I full out laugh this time and straighten up from my position against the counter, as he starts to close the door.

"You know you love me, Valley Boy." I call teasingly, hearing his laugh just before the door closes.

Clary returns to the kitchen about five minutes later with Jon I tow. He looks like death-warmed-over, what with the dark circles under his eyes and his mussed hair. I sling my bag back up onto my shoulder and quirk an eyebrow up at his dark expression.

"What's wrong, Frankenstein? Did your stitches come undone?" I inquire playfully, pushing completely off of the counter and walking towards the front door. He just grunts and picks up an apple, before my phone starts buzzing in my pocket. I pull it out casually, while Clary and Jon gather their bags, and open the new text.

_**From: Annoying- stick-up-the-ass- Brother (a.k.a. Alec)**_

'_**Get your golden-ass out here. Pronto. We're going to be late!'**_

I sigh and look towards Clary, motioning her towards the door.

"C'mon, Peasants. The princess has requested our presence; immediately." I exclaim dramatically, gesturing grandly towards the now-open front door. Clary rolls her eyes and hikes up her bag, before waltzing out of the apartment. Jon however, glares at me and throws his apple at my head, before stomping out of the door and towards the elevator. I wince and rub my head as I shut the door. _Was it something that I said?_

* * *

><p>When Alec's car pulls up to the school, we all let out a simultaneous groan. <em>Why are we even here?<em> I whine to myself internally. We all pile out of the car and start towards the building, not forgetting to send glares at anything and everything that gets in our path.

There are reasons as to why our group has remained together for so long. For one: we all have completely different personalities, so nobody has to be worried about being replaced. Number two: none of us let people talk shit to us. I'm pretty sure that everyone, save Clary, has physically handled their enemies. Clary though, she's the precious one in the group.

You see, there's Maia and Izzy; who could kill you with one blow to the throat, Seb and Jon; who are on the football team, Jordan; who works at a gym in order to pay for his rent because he dropped out of high-school, Alec; who has been taking karate classes ever since he was able to walk, and me; who is naturally awesome at everything and has abs of steel. _Yes, praise me._ Then, you have the butterfly of the group, otherwise known as Simon, and Clary, who could only fight an attacker off for so long before they would pick her up and throw her out of a window. _Yeah, I know. That was just a little too morbid to think about, but hey. It's true._

We storm through the hallways and eventually split off to go to our own classes. Clary and I stop at our lockers, because they're right next to each other, before slowly making our way to our first class. We have all of the same classes, so I get to tease her all day. It's not that bad for her though, despite what she says, she secretly enjoys our banter too.

We walk silently into our first class of the day, English, and take our seats as the rest of the class files in after us. I turn towards her after a minute to start a conversation, only to find her deeply immersed into a drawing. _As always, _I think amusedly. I slightly lean towards her desk to see what it is that she is drawing and immediately smile at the sight that is in front of my eyes.

She has drawn me, of all things. _Me._ I am squatting before a ledge and have wings sprouting out from my back. My eyes are cast downward and my hair appears to be windblown. In all truths, it's amazing.

This isn't the first time that I've caught her drawing me, of course. Clary draws almost everything that she sees. Whether it's The Institute, or a creepy homeless dude, she's drawn it. No matter how many times I have seen her artwork though, it still dumbfounds me at the amount of talent that she has. I can't even tell you how many of her drawings I have stored in the bottom of my desk-drawers; all of them are absolutely beautiful. _Like her… Shut up! We're not starting this now!_

You see, I've recently been getting odd thoughts about a certain red-head. Like I'll just be eating lunch, and all of a sudden I'm thinking obsessively about her hair or her lips. At first I thought that I was just sleep deprived, but when the thoughts continued for about six months, I started to get worried. I even looked up 'thought manipulation' on google, but I seriously doubt that I am being possessed by some sort of demon. Of course, the only reason that I have for thinking things like that, are because I have recently become obsessed with the show _Supernatural, _so… Yeah.

Anyway, something's seriously wrong with me; especially when I start thinking about my _best-friend, _when I have a _girlfriend_. _Yeah, I'm really messed-up._

Kaelie has been my girlfriend for about five months now. We met at a club at the beginning of summer, and I don't have the heart to break up with her yet. I usually don't 'date', but I decided to try having a relationship for once. You know, instead of retaining my reputation as a man-whore. She goes to a different high-school, that's all the way on the other side of the city, so I don't get to see her a lot during the week. In fact, the last time that I actually spoke to her in person was before we formed the band. She texts me like an obsessive stalker though, so we have 'communicated' since then. _I guess?_

I am brought out of my thoughts by the door to the classroom opening and Mr. Wayland entering the room. I smile down softly at my little Red, before turning towards the board and preparing for another lecture from the warden. _Let's just get this over with…_

* * *

><p><em><em>**Okay, so the first thing that I have to say is: SORRY. I'm so sorry for the late update. I feel horrible about it, but my computer decided to be an asshole and not let me access my files and… Anyway, it sucks. **

**Fair Warning: NEVER BUY A TOSHIBA LAPTOP! They suck ass. :(**

**There's the next chapter, enjoy!**

**Cassandra Clare owns all, except for the plot and my ideas.**

**Thank you for all of the positive feedback. (And your honesty) :D**

**Review&Follow**


	6. Chapter 6

_Clary POV_

The crowd at Pandemonium roars loudly in my ears. I smile at the sight of the all-ages club's inhabitants dancing and look back towards the guys, who are all preparing their instruments for when they get called up onto the stage.

If you haven't gathered it yet, we are at Pandemonium for the guys' very first gig. Tonight's basically an Open Mic Night, except for it is only for bands. The club's manager apparently is friends with some big-time recording company agents, so hopefully the guys will catch one of their eyes. We are all standing on the side of the stage and are helping the guys get ready for their performance.

Izzy and Maia are watching with mild disinterest, as the guys mess around and fidget nervously in their make-shift huddle. I silently take a headcount of the guys, just to make sure that everyone's here, and sigh when I realize that one is missing. I walk over to the circle of boys and duck underneath some of their arms in order to stand in the middle of them. The all look down at me with questioning gazes, causing me to roll my eyes at them. _Damn shortness._

"Hey, guys? Would any of you happen to know where Douche-face is this fine evening?" I inquire sarcastically, though my question is dead-serious. They all stare at me blankly and I sigh deeply. _I forgot that they're slow. My bad._ "Jace? Do any of you know where he is?" I ask tiredly, rolling my eyes at the group of teenagers in front of me. Silence greets me momentarily, before Jordan raises a hand up into the air; resembling a third-grader. I shake my head exasperatedly, before nodding towards his raised hand; signaling for him to start speaking.

"He went over to the bar, I think. Said something about Kaelie being there." He says helpfully, pointing towards the bar that is located at the opposite side of the club from where we are at. I nod slightly and start making my way towards the door that leads back out into the main part of the club.

"Okay, I'll go get him. You guys continue to get ready and I'll be back in a minute." I state, not giving them time to respond before I am darting out of the door and running over to the bar.

Since Pandemonium is an all-ages club, they keep the alcohol locked up behind the bar. The only way that you are allowed to buy an alcoholic drink, is if you show one of the bartenders your I.D. It's pretty much just like any other club, only the staff is stricter about selling drinks to underage teens.

As I approach the bar, I immediately spot a familiar head of golden hair. He is standing in between a pair of legs and has his hands on the leg's owners' hips. I walk closer to him, only to find out that the leg's owner is none other than Kaelie. Her platinum-blonde hair lays straight onto her shoulders and her face is caked with an ass-load of too-dark foundation. I roll my eyes internally at her appearance, trying to keep the obvious disgust off of my face at the sight of her barely-there dress. The dress could probably fit me, so you know that it doesn't belong on someone who's almost an entire foot taller than me. Jace leans close to her and presses his lips to hers, while I continue to near the couple.

I slide up right next to the oblivious pair and lean against the counter of the bar, looking down at my nails in apparent boredom. After they continue to make-out for a minute, I finally get fed-up and cough; quite loudly too. They immediately separate and look over to me in surprise. Kaelie glares at me threateningly, while Jace smiles unabashedly and steps back slightly from Kaelie; his hands still placed onto her hips though.

"When you two are finished with your unnatural grope-fest, Jace is needed on the stage. Like, now." I say sweetly, smiling up at them with false-brightness. Jace sighs quietly and, despite Kaelie's efforts to make him stay, removes himself from in between the girl's legs.

"Alright, Clare. Let's go." He tells me tiredly, as if I just ruined his fun. _Well, you probably did…_ "See you later, Kay." He whispers to 'Kay', before kissing her again and starting to make his way towards the door that says 'Stage Entrance'. I roll my eyes at Kaelie's pouting look and head after him, trying not to lose him in the chaos of the crowd.

I finally catch up to him by the door that leads to the stage and stand in front of said door before he can open it. I lean my back against it and cross my arms over my chest stubbornly, staring up at him with an expectant expression plastered onto my face. He sighs deeply and runs a hand through his hair, causing me to bite my lip unconsciously. _What I would give to run my hands through his hair… No! Bad Clary! _I internally scold myself for allowing my mind to wander, before clearing my throat and focusing on his face again.

"What's up with you?" I ask, not kind in the least. He looks down at me intently and lets his eyes roam over my face, before speaking.

"Why don't you like Kaelie?" he asks, quite bluntly if you ask me. I shrug and sigh dramatically.

"It's not that I don't like her; it's just that she's kind of a bitch to me. That's all." I explain plainly, not allowing any of my hatred towards his girlfriend seep into my voice. He nods, not believing my excuse but letting it go all the same, and motions towards the door that I am still leaning on.

"Okay, if you say so. Anyway, can you move so that I can get ready? I'm going to be late, and then I'll have to face Jon's wrath. And if I'm going down, I'm dragging you down with me." he says playfully, though the threat completely serious. I roll my eyes and slouch against the door further, trying to see just how much I can push his buttons.

"I don't know, I'm pretty comfy right here." I pause to smile slyly up at him. "What're you going to do about it?" I ask playfully, daring him with my eyes to make a move. He grins wickedly down at me, and then, before I can even blink, I am being thrown over his shoulder and carried through the now-open door.

I internally roll my eyes at myself. You never, _and I mean ever, _play the daring game with Jace. He'll win every time, and then you'll be stuck running down the street with antlers on your head or, as I am currently, being carried out of the way and getting tickled to an inch of your life.

To my surprise though, he makes no move to tickle me. He only caries me into the large room that is located behind the stage, with me complaining for him to 'put me down' of course, and then sets me down finally when we reach the guys. He pats my head lightly, _like I'm a mother-fucking dog, _and joins the group of boys. I can faintly hear the current band playing loudly on the stage, so the guys must be up soon. I huff and reach up to smooth down my hair, before also walking over to the guys. They al look up at me as I approach and smile nervously. None of them make a move to speak, and I finally get tired of the awkward silence and them staring at me expectantly, so I roll my eyes exasperatedly and groan.

"What? Why are you all looking at me like that?" I inquire confusedly, still not comprehending their silent messages. Jordan awkwardly clears his throat and smiles down at me.

"We thought that you were going to give us a speech, or some shit like that." He explains sheepishly, sounding slightly embarrassed. I furrow my brows and look around at the five boys that are standing in front of me again.

"Why the fuck would I give you guys a speech?" I ask curiously. Jace shakes his head in peripheral, causing me to look at him pointedly and gesture for him to speak. He smiles slightly at my impatience, but otherwise starts talking.

"You're the manager. We kind of figured that you'd give us one of those inspirational speeches that coaches do before a game. Y'know, like before a football game?" he says nonchalantly, as if I should understand where he is coming from. I roll my eyes and crack my neck, _like a lady,_ before looking back up into his eyes hopelessly.

"No, Jace. I don't 'know'. Why do I need to give you guys a speech about winning? This isn't even a contest." I state tiredly, already done with his confusing mind-games. "Although, I could give you guys a speech about your performance?" I add, an evil-plan already forming in my head. They all nod and smile at me encouragingly.

"Sure, whatever you want to do." Jon says, nodding towards me in acknowledgement. I bite back a smirk and nod slightly.

"Alright, here goes nothing." I pause to create effect, before scowling and starting my lecture.

"If you guys don't succeed tonight, I'll castrate all of you in your sleep; with safety scissors that have been dipped in saltwater." I start talking in a deep, gym-teacher-like voice. "You Pansies need to grow some balls and man-up in order to dominate the stage. If you can't do that tonight, you better learn how to piss like the proper ladies that you are. You understand me?" by now I am pacing in front of the dumbfounded group of boys and continue talking without giving them time to answer. "Good. I always liked the submissive ones. Anyway, get out there and kick some ass, or else say goodbye to your 'precious jewels'." I finish off my speech with a cruel laugh and a menacing smile, before halting my pacing and nodding to myself in mock-thought.

"Yep. That's a keeper. I should record that and sell it online. I can see it now, 'Clary's Inspirational Speeches; four for five dollars with our special coupon'." I mumble to myself, though loud enough so that they can all hear me clearly, while looking out into the distance with a slight smile on my face.

I look back at the group of boys, wondering why they've been so quiet, only to find five pale faces staring at me in horror. I burst out laughing when I see that even _Jace_ looks scared. I try to control my laughter, but the guys look downright terrified at my outburst, so I just end up falling onto the floor and laughing hysterically. Every time that I look at their faces, I start laughing all over again.

Maia and Izzy walk over to our group and give me weird looks, most likely wondering why I sound like a dying cat. I am able to pick myself up off of the ground and stand, but I'm still giggling like a maniac.

"Why is she laughing like a psychopath?" Izzy inquires curiously. Jordan shudders and eyes me warily, before speaking.

"I think that she just threatened to neuter us is we didn't do well tonight." He explains unsurely, looking around at the guys for back-up. They all nod in agreement, never taking their eyes off of me. I giggle again and shake my head at the memory of their scared expressions.

"You guys should've seen your faces. _Classic_!" I manage to say through my giggles. Maia raises an eyebrow up at me and shakes her head slowly.

"I'm not sure if I even_ want_ to know what you're talking about. I'll never understand your humor." She mumbles to herself, still shaking her head at me. Izzy nods her consent and sighs tiredly.

"Yeah, Clary. You need to get a better humor. All of this morbidity shit is starting to wear on my nerves." She states sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Maia. I take in a deep breath and bite my lip to stop giggling finally, before turning back to the group of boys.

"Not sorry. Okay, back to business," I start lightly, while looking around the group of boys and taking notice of their instruments. Jon has his electric-guitar slung over his back, Jordan also has his guitar slung over his shoulder, Alec is idly fingering the strings of his bass, Seb is twirling his drumsticks around his fingers expertly, and Jace, _of course,_ has a golden microphone nestled into his palm. I sigh exasperatedly and walk closer to him, pointing at the golden microphone whilst walking.

"What in the _absolute hell_ is that, Jace?" I ask, my tone coming out slightly amused with a hint of incredulity. He smiles brightly down at me, flashing me a glimpse of his chipped incisor, and tosses the microphone up slightly into the air before catching it in his grasp again.

"Oh, this? It's just the most awesome thing that's been invented since sliced-bread." He explains, smiling cheekily at me and nodding to himself in self-satisfaction. I groan at his overused line and shake my head slowly at him.

"No. Just, no. First of all, that isn't your line. Second of all, you look like a wanna-be Disney star. It's sad and, truthfully, revolting." I reprimand, smiling sadly up at him in mock-disappointment. He takes on an air of false-hurt and sniffs indignantly.

"How _dare_ you treat me this way?! This is a requirement for the arts. You should know; your _mother_ is an _artiste_." He cries dramatically, pronouncing 'artiste' with extra, as I imagine he would call it, _pizzazz._ I roll my eyes and bite back a smile before gesturing towards the stage, where the announcer of the evening is currently walking back in stage to announce the next performer.

During our little idiotic conversation, I didn't notice that the band that was playing had finished and was making their way around our group. Like the model-citizens that we are, we are standing in the middle of the exit that leads off of the stage, so the performers have to squeeze around us. _Yes, we're that rude. Deal with it. _

"I think that you guys are about to go on." I state plainly, smiling encouragingly up at the five boys in front of me. They all immediately look determined and nod their understanding.

"Alright, let's do this. We don't want to be castrated later, do we?" Jon says; playfully adding the last part in a teasing tone. They all nod their consent and quickly checking their instruments again. I smile up at their focused faces, before placing my hand out in front of me.

"Okay, if we're seriously going to be doing the whole 'band-thing', we have to do the totally cliché pre-concert cheer." I explain when I notice the odd looks that they are giving my outstretched hand. The guys all place one of their hands on top of mine hesitantly, as if touching me would permanently sell their souls to Azazel, and look at me expectantly. I quickly glance towards the stage, where the announcer has just finished telling the crowd that 'The Fallen' will be performing next, before turning back to the guys with another encouraging smile plastered onto my face.

"You guys will do great. Just do your best and, I know that I probably sound like a cheesy T-ball coach but, have fun. Got it?" I tell them, looking at all of them in the eyes briefly. They all nod, _again; they must really be into nodding today,_ and I take that as a signal to do the whole 'let's-throw-our-hands-up-into-the-air-like-they-do-in-the-stupid-movies' thing.

After we do that, the announcer comes off of the stage and walks over to where we have moved our group, but only slightly out of the way of the exit to the stage. _We have a reputation to uphold, after all._ The announcer has slicked back brown hair, kind blue eyes, glasses perched on top of the bridge of his nose, and is wearing a dark suit. He smiles widely at us as he approaches and nods his head slightly towards the guys, gaining on a friendly front. When he finally reaches us, he holds his hand out towards the guys and grins at them with a father-like fondness.

"Hello, I'm Luke Garroway. I'm the 'supervisor', if you will, of this whole event." He explains kindly, taking turns shaking hands with all of the guys, before turning towards me. "And you must be Clary, the nice young lady that I spoke to over the phone." He states, taking my hand and grasping it warmly between his two large ones. I smile politely up at him and nod.

You see, I called him on Monday earlier this week after seeing his advertisement on Facebook for an open-mic-night on Friday night. The ad said to call a certain number if you wanted to perform, so that's exactly what I did. I can't say that I'm _not_ surprised at Luke's appearance, though. I was picturing some old-guy with anger issues, but he is definitely _not_ old. He couldn't be much older than my mother, and she was just barely thirty-seven, so he was relatively young.

"Yep, that's me." I say, retracting my hand back to my side after he lets it go. He lets his gaze run over our group quickly, before getting a look of sudden realization on his face.

"Oh, shoot! You boys are up in," he pauses to glance down at his watch, which is rather expensive-looking might I add, before continuing. "about one minute. Good luck." He finishes with one final smile, and then retreats to the side of the stage where he has been sitting during performances all night. I turn back to the guys and take notice immediately of their worried faces. I smile reassuringly, trying to ease their stress.

"You guys ready?" I ask, still smiling up at them. Jace nods for all of them, determination laced into all of his features, and grins down to me confidently.

"Yup." He says, being sure to pop the 'P'. "We're going to be awesome out there. Right guys?" he inquires rhetorically to the rest of the guys. They all still look unsure, but nod none the less. My smile widens at his apparent ego seeping into his words and I chuckle slightly.

"Alrighty then. Get your asses out there and _dominate the stage."_ I say, lowering my voice for the last part into a poor excuse of a manly-voice. This gains small smiles out of the boys, save Jace who was already grinning, and they nod again in my direction. _Seriously, what's up with all of the nodding tonight? Are they diseased? Should I be worried?_

The guys start to walk out onto the stage nervously, and I can't help but watch after them worriedly. _They'll do fine, Clary. Stop acting like you're their mother! They're big-boys; they can handle a little crowd by themselves._ I internally scold myself for acting like their keepers. I sigh and bite my lip before heading over to the side of the stage to watch their performance.

I see Jon and Jordan plugging in their guitars, Alec plugging in his bass, Seb sitting own on the little stool that has been placed behind the large drum-set, and Jace looking out at the crowd with his cordless-microphone dangling loosely in his hand. I see Luke stand up from his seat and walk back out onto the stage in my peripheral, causing my attention to turn fully onto the man. He smiles out at the crowd of teenagers and makes a sweeping gesture towards the guys, who are watching him intently.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce _The Fallen_." He bellows loudly into his mic, before quickly running off of the stage again and sitting down in his seat. I train my eyes onto the stage and watch eagerly as the lights in the club point directly at the guys. Jace smiles slightly to himself, before bringing his mic up to his lips.

"Hey. We're _The Fallen _and this is our version of _Criminal by Framing Hanley._" He announces into the mic, before nodding towards Jon and bobbing his head to the steady strum of his guitar. If I had looked closer before now, I would have noticed that a mic-stand was set up in front of Jordan, but I didn't so I was in for a big surprise when he started to do back-up vocals.

Jordan, surprisingly, has a really good voice. Of course, not as smooth or as angelic as Jace, but he still has a really nice voice. The two boys harmonize really well together, and suddenly I'm disappointed that they wouldn't allow me to hear their practices before tonight.

You see, Jace basically banned me from coming to their practices for tonight. Apparently he wanted it to be a 'surprise', but I could beg to differ. _He was just being a douche. His douche-level has outranked even the douchiest-douche of them all._ He even went to the extent of locking me I my apartment while they left to go to Seb's for band-practice.

In the beginning I was pissed and tried to escape, but the little asshole paid Max to make me stay put. The kid's got the whole 'play with me because my own siblings don't' thing down to a science. First it started off with the simple doe-eyes, then it escalated to him pouting in front of my door with doe-eyes, and finally he managed to make himself cry, while still staring at me with the adorable doe-eyes, and I eventually ended up playing Black-Jack with him until Jace and the rest of the group that lives in our apartment building got back form practice. Just let me tell you, that kid shouldn't be as good as he is at a gambling game at the age of nine. Either Jace has been teaching him more of his evil-cheating-techniques, or Max just enjoys watching me get destroyed and taking all of my Cheetos. _Yes, we gamble with Cheetos. Sue me… Actually don't; the reason that we play with Cheetos is because I'm broke, so…_

I am pulled out of my thoughts by the song ending. Jace is panting lightly and grinning widely down at the crowd, which is roaring so loud that my ears start to ring. I start clapping and cheering them on excitedly, ecstatic that they got such a positive response from the crowd. Luke jumps up from his seat and runs out onto the stage, laughing and waving his hands up in the air along with the crowd's energy.

"Wow. That was absolutely incredible. Was it just me, or are these boys awesome?" he questions the crowd, causing them to cheer even louder than they already were. Luke laughs under his breath and points back towards the guys, who are starting to unplug their instruments and make their way off-stage. "Give it up for _The Fallen_!" He calls into the mic loudly, smiling and nodding the guys off before announcing the next band that is to perform.

When the guys are completely off of the stage and we have moved our group over to the side of the remotely large room that is to the side of the stage, they all simultaneously tackle me into a group-hug. I have to bite back a scream when I see five teenage boys hurdling themselves at me, but manage to keep it at bay with the knowledge that we are indoors and someone would probably think that an axe-murderer is on the loose.

They suddenly start jumping up and down, with me still trapped in the middle of them, causing me to laugh and try to escape. The guys eventually separate, allowing me to get out of their limb-made prison, and they all look down at me with huge smiles on their faces. I take in a deep breath and smile up at them proudly, before speaking.

"So… Good job, guys." I say, trying to sound nonchalant, but a large grin escapes me when my eyes land on Jace's excited face.

"We. Were. Awesome." He states, sounding completely confident in his statement. The guys all nod in agreement, causing me to chuckle and tell them to 'pack up their shit' so that we can go meet up with our parents and go get some food.

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><p>We ended up convincing our parents to take us to Taki's, a local restaurant that serves pancakes to die for 247, before splitting off into our separate directions to go home. My dad, because my mom is out of town for an art exhibit, complimented Jon on his performance and said that he was proud of him. Least to say, Jon was really happy. _Turns out, maybe this won't be so bad after all…_

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><p><strong>Hello, fellow humans. <strong>_**Unless you're a robot…**_** Anyway, there's the next chapter. Enjoy! **

**Cassandra Clare owns all, except for the plot and my ideas**_**. You know, all of the boring stuff like that.**_** :D**

**Extra info:**

_**Azazel: Basically a demon. Yeah… I'm weird…**_

_**Criminal by Framing Hanley: Listen to it, you know you want to. I love it!**_

**Well...That's all I got for now… M'kay bye. :D**

**Thanks for reviewing and telling me your thoughts. :P**

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	7. Chapter 7

_Jace POV_

I jump, completely startled, when I hear a loud knocking resound through my room. I spin around in my desk-chair and look towards my door with my eyebrows furrowed. _What the hell- It's, like, 2:00 in the morning. _I stand up and walk over to my door, but never open it because I realize that the knocking is coming from my balcony. I groan tiredly and make my way over to the balcony, throwing open the doors that lead outside when I finally get there.

Clary stands there with her lip drawn between her teeth and her comforter wrapped around her shoulders. I smile slightly at the sight and open the doors wider so that she can come inside and out of the cold. She silently walks over to my bed and plops herself down, while I retake my seat at my desk. The small lamp that sits on my desk illuminates my room in a dull yellow light. I slouch back in my comfy desk-chair and look expectantly to Clary, who is pulling her comforter closer around her small body. _She's so cute… Shut up! You're just tired, _I tell myself angrily.

"Were you sleeping?" Clary asks quietly, bringing my out of my internal reprimanding. I shake my head and stifle a yawn into my hand.

"Nah, I was doing homework. I kind of forgot about it earlier when Max and I were having an epic battle-to-the-death." I mumble tiredly, leaning back in my chair even more. She nods slightly and rests her elbows on her knees with her chin on her hands.

"Who won?" she asks curiously, peering up at me through her eyelashes. I swallow against the foreign feeling that settles in my gut and take a deep breath before speaking.

"Max. Do you really even have to ask anymore?" I say rhetorically, smiling at her teasingly. She pokes her tongue out at me and rolls her eyes.

"No. we all know that you suck ass at COD. I guess that I was just hopeful that you learned a few techniques from your last detonation. Max really knows how to put your ego back in its place, let me tell you." she states casually, frowning in mock-disappointment to herself. I chuckle and stand up from my desk chair, before walking over to the vacant side of my bed and flopping down onto it. I bury my head into one of my pillows and sigh tiredly.

"Funny." I comment sarcastically, before turning my head to the side in order to face Clary and quirking an eyebrow up at her. "So, why are you here again?" I ask curiously, exhaustion seeping into my voice. She lies down beside me and turns her head towards me, watching my face intently before speaking.

"I booked you guys another gig and I felt like telling you." She states, yawning half way through. I nod and flip over, so that I am lying on my side with my head rested on my palm.

"Okay, so when and where is it?" I inquire; a little more awake at the mention of a gig. She smiles sleepily at me and grabs my hand in hers.

"In two days." She states plainly, idly playing with my fingers in the most distracting way possible. _Think good thoughts, Jace. Don't think about how much you enjoy her hands playing with yours. Don't think about how adorable she is… But she is really cute… I said 'don't' for a reason, dammit!_ Noticing my incredulous expression, she continues. "I know that it's really last-moment, but Luke literally _just_ called me tonight. He said that some pretty high-up music-scouts are going to be at the gig and that he thinks that you guys have a really good chance of catching one of their eyes. Apparently the band that was scheduled to play cancelled, so he said that you guys were his 'next-best-option'." She explains, smiling up at me apologetically. I nod again, _I've been doing that a lot lately, _before settling down into my pillows and trying to focus on anything else besides her fingers playing with mine.

"That's cool. I'm tired…" I trail off drowsily, my eyes fluttering closed against my will. I feel the bed shift, and then I feel soft lips press against my forehead. I reluctantly open one eye, to see Clary burrowing down into her comforter and moving away from me. She smiles tiredly at me and wraps her comforter tighter around her.

"Then go to sleep, stupid. I'm tired too." She tells me, scooting closer to me and resting her head on my shoulder. I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her tighter to me, before kissing her head and getting underneath of my on covers.

"You can stay here tonight. It's late and cold and I don't want you to accidentally slip and die on your way over the railings." I mumble quietly, my body screaming at me to go to sleep already. My eyes slip closed again, but I feel her nod against my T-shirt and snuggle deeper into my side. A smile pulls at the corners of my mouth and I press a kiss to the top of her head, before continuing to speak. "Besides, I kind of enjoy having my own Clary-pillow. It's very comfy and soft." I say teasingly, squeezing her tighter to my chest to make my point. She makes a murmur of protest, but relents to rest her head onto my chest.

"Shut up, Asswipe. I'm trying to sleep here." she whispers mockingly, causing me to peel my eyes open to look into hers one last time. Hers are tired and heavy-looking, but a playful glint still peeks out through her long lashes. She smiles slightly up at me from her position on my chest, before turning her head further into my body and closing her eyes. "Now hush, my child. Close your golden orbs and let the darkness take you to a land of fortune and fairies." She whispers sarcastically, though her voice is so soft that I can barely make it out. I chuckle quietly, before closing my eyes and doing exactly what she told me to do. _While I highly doubt that I'll be having dreams about fairies, I most definitely will be dreaming about fortune…_

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><p>The next day, I wake up to Clary running her nails up and down the bottom of my foot. Let me tell you, it's one of the most disturbing feelings out there. Sadly for me though, I have a best-friend who finds endless amusement in my discomfort and pain. She presses one of her nails deeper into the bottom of my foot, <em>my foot-palm, <em>causing me to cringe and try to pull my foot back towards my body. When I realize that she has a firm grip on my ankle though, and I seriously doubt that kicking her would turn out very well, I throw the covers off of my body and sit straight up in my bed. I swing my legs over the side of the bed quickly and stand, before moving towards her with my arms outstretched in order to catch her.

Her eyes go wide when she realizes that she is on the wrong side of the room, the door is on the opposite side, and that her only escape route is my bathroom. I see her swallow and smile up at me angelically, but her attempts to escape her fate are to no avail. When you have been around somebody almost every day, for the past six years, their charms don't have any effect on you anymore. I grin down at her devilishly and walk her back towards the wall, caging her in with my arms like an animal. I lean down so that my lips are almost touching the shell of her ear and chuckle darkly, my voice coming out slightly husky from just being woken up.

"Now, Clary. Was that really the smartest thing to do?" I inquire playfully, pressing my body closer to hers when I see her trying to move out of my grasp. She looks up at me with wide eyes and a wavering smile, all hope leaving her expression and being replaced by well-placed fear. _Be afraid, be very afraid. _

"Y-yes." Clary squeaks out, placing her palms flat against my chest and pushing at my solid form pathetically. _Honey, I don't work-out for an hour a day for nothing. _I roll my eyes at small figure, clicking my tongue down at her in mock-disappointment, before smiling down at her sadly.

"Wrong answer. I'm afraid that you'll have to be punished. That is, unless you would like to apologize and be on your way…" I trail off, nodding my head back towards my door on the other side of the room. I see her eyes flicker between mine and the door several times, before a stubborn spark flickers in the depths of her eyes. I smirk down at her with false malice when she shakes her head and sets her jaw, most likely resembling The Joker when he finally caught Batman. _Of course, he got killed anyway, but…_

"Why would I apologize for something, when I wasn't the one who was at fault? I think that you should have to apologize to me. I'm the one who had to touch your feet; I may even have to pour salicylic acid on my hands just to continue on with my day." She states, looking me in the eyes with a stubbornness only known to one family in existence; the Morgensterns. I just chuckle, before reaching one of my hands down to her side and poking her in warning for what is about to come.

"Are you positive? You can still change you answer, y'know." I say teasingly, poking her again. She flinches away from my touch and glances down at my hand in minor panic. I watch as her determination fades slightly from her eyes and temptation replaces it, causing me to grin to myself in satisfaction. _Gotcha! _

"I-I," she pauses to collect herself, before continuing. "Never!" she cries, not sounding as confident as her words were meant to portray her as. My grin turns into a smile, before both of my hands go down to attack her sides.

She slides down the wall, making me kneel down along with her in order to keep up my hand's assault, and tries to curl in on herself. I just dig my fingers harder into her sides and laugh heartily when she starts screaming for me to stop. Her face is contorted with laughter and her eyes are pleading with me to halt my torture. With one final chuckle, I do.

I stand up and move over to my bed to sit down, while watching Clary recover on the floor. She is gasping for air and glaring at me with her eyes. I laugh when her entire body collapses tiredly and look around my room.

The curtains are still closed so I can't tell what time it is by the light outside, my comforter and Clary's are both tangled into a pile on the floor, my pillows have been thrown across the room, and the lamp on my desk is still on from last night. I yawn and stretch my hand above my head, pulling my shirt up slightly to reveal my abdomen, before standing and walking over to my balcony. I vaguely hear Clary get up from the floor as I fling open the curtains, but don't even spare her a glance as I open the door and walk outside into the metal platform that is attached to my room.

The sky is still mostly dark, except for the slightest bit of sunshine that is starting to peak through the tall building in the distance. I sigh in contentment, before going back into my room. Clary is sitting on my bed, having gathered up her comforter from the floor and wrapped it around herself, so I make my way over to the empty side of the bed and flop myself down haphazardly. Her entire body jolts with the bed when I do, but she only sighs and lies down next to me. I glance over at her after a moment of silence with a questioning look.

"Why did you wake me up? Aren't you supposed to be the one in this relationship that sleeps in really late?" I ask, the last part in a teasing tone. She groans and drags her hands down her face, rubbing at her eyes along the way.

"We need to text the guys before school and tell them about an emergency-band-practice. You guys need to be ready for the gig in two days. Who knows, maybe there'll really _be_ a music-scout there. You guys could get famous." She explains, grabbing my phone off of the bedside table and handing it to me. I unlock it and start texting the guys quickly, suddenly becoming excited about the gig.

"On it." I state, mock-saluting her distractedly while typing into my phone. She snuggles down into her comforter, before closing her eyes and sighing quietly.

"I think that I'm going to go back to sleep. I only got, like, three hours of sleep." And with that, she relaxes and leaves me to finish sending out the texts.

After I'm done texting the guys, I look at the time on my phone. 5:30am. _No wonder she's acting like a zombie,_ I think as I pull my own comforter up onto my body from the floor and settle down into my bed again. _Her nocturnal-vampire-clock is completely messed up._

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><p>The next time that I wake up, it's because of my phone buzzing right next to my ear. <em>Damn phone…<em> I groan and groggily reach a hand up to stop its constant buzzing, but find that, in my sleep disoriented mind, I can't actually get ahold of the small device with my eyes closed. I peel open one of my eyes and turn my head slightly in order to find my phone, before turning the alarm off and sitting up. The time reads 7:15am, so Clary and I need to wake up and get dressed in order to be on time to school. _Well, if we want to catch a ride to school in Alec's car and not have to walk. That too._

I rub my eyes and yawn, before looking down at my bed to see if Clary is awake yet. She is cuddled up into her comforter, sleeping like a rock. I smile softly down at her and reach a hand out to brush over her curls. Her regular braid has come slightly undone and is lying wildly over her shoulder. I allow my hand to run down to her cheek, after smoothing down her hair, and let my thumb brush idly over her cheek bone. She sighs softly and leans into my hand, causing me to bite my lip at the foreign feeling that settles in my gut. _What the fuck? This is clary, Dipshit!_

I am brought out of my internal scolding, by Clary's eyes fluttering open. I retract my hand, although reluctantly, and smile down at her as she blinks sleepily up at me. Her forehead crinkles adorably- _I mean, normally-_ as she yawns and sits up slowly, stretching her arms above her head as she goes. I avert my eyes when her T-shirt rides up slightly and stand up from the bed, trying desperately to get the abnormal thoughts out of my head. _Get you shit together, Man! These thoughts are really low, and that's saying something coming from you…_

I busy myself with gathering clothes to change into, while listening to Clary waking up in the background. I open one of my drawers on my dresser, grab a random shirt, and start shuffling through the rest of my drawers idly, as she finally gets off of my bed. I hear the floorboards creek under her weight as she crosses the room, causing me to look up from my clothes finally.

She stands at the balcony, holding her comforter and narrowing her eyes at the lone alarm-clock that sits upon the bedside table. Suddenly, like lightning just struck, her eyes become alert and she curses under her breath, before turning to me fully.

"I need to get dressed. Like, now." She states, smiling sheepishly at me. I nod and throw her a half-smile, gesturing to the now-open balcony doors.

"Sure thing. I'll meet you in the hallway, in ten?" I inquire, turning back to gathering my clothes and starting towards the bathroom. She grins at me, though her eyes still somewhat asleep, and bobs her head up and down.

"Absolutely. Later, _Jay_." She says, winking pointedly at me and exiting the room before I even have the chance to question the nickname. _Jay? That sounds like… Now way… She wouldn't use that against me… Would she?_

With a frustrated sigh, completely put off by my best-friend calling me a Cougar's nickname, I enter my bathroom and start the shower. As I'm leaning my head against the cool tiles though, all that I can think about is the hell that I'm going to be getting later. _Jay… Fuck my life…_

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><p>After I was dressed and had my bag, I ran out into the hallway to meet Clary. She wasn't there yet, so I quickly went back inside to grab some food for my stomach to eat. <em>Yes, I did just say that. <em>I picked up an apple and hurried back out into the hallway of our apartment building, only to find Clary already there. I blink in confusion at her and look around myself. _Is there a trap-door here or something, because I swear that she wasn't just here ten seconds ago…_

She grins up at me and fingers the strap of her bag in a shrugging motion. I shift my on bag up onto my shoulder and narrow my eyes at her playfully.

"Were you here the whole time?" I ask hesitantly, not wanting to sound like a complete and total idiot. She just smiles at my innocently, immediately giving away her trade, and looks up at me through her eyelashes.

"I have _absolutely _no idea what you're talking about." She practically sings, skipping ahead of me and motioning for me to join her at the elevator. "Come on, _Jay._ We're going to be late for school, you silly-puss." And cue the evil grin. I groan loudly, but comply none the less. When we're in the elevator, I turn towards her with a dangerous scowl.

"Would you knock it off with the whole '_Jay'_ thing? It's bad enough to have an old Cougar already stalking me with it like I'm its prey, but to have my best-friend do it also? It's complete and utter torture." I practically whine, looking down at her with a pleading gaze. She winks at me and shakes her head almost imperceptibly, as if I should have known better than to ask that exact question.

"Jay, Jay, Jay." She clucks, biting back a grin while reprimanding me. "You're just getting what's coming to you. You know that, right?" she says rhetorically, now glancing down to her nails as if bored. I growl under my breath and tip my head u to the ceiling in a silent plead to god. _Whatever she has planned, smite her down. Do it now, god. While you still have the chance. _

"No. I don't know, Clare. Would you care to elaborate or…" I trail off, allowing some of my annoyance and frustration seep into my voice. She just smirks to herself enigmatically and sighs, sounding completely content with my answer.

"Nope. This is just payback for earlier." She states, before waltzing out of the elevator when it dings. I stare at her back for a moment, groan again, and finally settle on following her. _Damn, why did I have to tickle Satan's incarnate? Why am I such an idiot? Although a very attractive idiot, but an idiot none the less… _

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><p><em><strong>Well, that's all folks.<strong>_

**So… let's just start off with a huge I'M SO SORRY FOR BEING AN ASSHOLE! Okay, now that we have that out of our system…**

**There's the next chapter. I know that it was probably really boring, but I needed to put it in there in order to develop some information for later on in the story. I'm sure that you guy have heard all of this before, so moving on.**

**MY COMPUTER STILL SUCKS ASS… just not in the good way… the damned thing completely shut down for, like, four days. Least to say, I was absolutely pissed. I thought that all of my data had been wiped clean, but being the smart person that I am, I had it all saved onto an external drive, so… yeah…**

**Okay, I'll stop bitching now. Bye. :]**

**Explanations for this chapter:**

**Cougar: **_**basically an old lady whom tries to pull young, unsuspecting men into their traps… like my Aunt Cathy… **_

**In case some of you forgot, **_**'Jay'**_** is the nickname that Seb's aunt, Elodie, gave him earlier on in the story. She is what I would to refer to as, a Cougar.**

**Thanks to all of you who reviewed and told me your thoughts. Do it again right now. :D**

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	8. Chapter 8

_Clary POV_

My fork clatters onto my plate with a hollow '_thunk_', as the buzzer rings frantically. I furrow my brows and stand up quickly, beating Jon and Dad to answer the door to our apartment.

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><p>My mother isn't here right now, because she apparently had an '<em>important painting due that could very well lay out her career for her'<em>. So, basically she forgot about a client's painting, and instead worked on some random one. She has a bad habit of neglecting the necessities, such as her job. My mother really _is_ a fantastic artist, obviously said so by her over-the-top paying job, she just tends to paint things that come to her; not the requests that she actually gets paid to do. She works at a relatively large art gallery, called _Monet Okay, _which is located right smack-dab in the middle of the city.

The only problem with her working where she does though, is that she is almost _never_ home to eat with the rest of us during the week. She's usually at work until about 8:00pm, and by then Jon and I are already in our rooms being teenagers. _Translation: We're too lazy to come out of our rooms and have 'family time'. Hell no, I don't do that. They're lucky that I even talk to them daily. If it were up to me, I would be a complete and total recluse and stay in my room all day; only coming out for food every three-four hours._

My father works at a large music store called _M-n-W's._ That stands for Morgenstern and Wayland, or my father, Valentine Morgenstern, and one of his best friend's, Michael Wayland. They go way back, apparently until before high-school. Michael, or as Jon and I call him 'Mike', is really well _connected._ When I say that, I mean that he has a lot of important people on speed-dial.

Their store is very modern, like _very _modern. It is located in two-story apartment building downtown, taking up the entire bottom-floor. The second-floor is currently being inhabited by extra merchandise that didn't fit into the main portion of the store, and where my father an Mike hide out when they have a 'guy's night'. Old-fashioned records line the walls, the floor is completely black tile, the walls and ceiling are painted metallic-black, rows upon rows of classic records and the latest CDs, and the back of the main-store holds my favorite part of the entire store.

Guitars.

They line the walls of the remotely-large room that is located behind the counter/register. My father invested into building an extra room in the back when he and Mike first purchased the building, and he just recently turned it into a guitar room. Everything from electrics, to acoustics, to basses are stocked up and sitting on stands in the climate-controlled room. My father installed a humidifier when he decided to add the guitar room in the back; basically to keep the instruments in ship-shape condition in the frigid New York weather. Even though they're inside of a heated building, my father still insisted on investing in the stupid humidifier; so now he has his own personal sauna in the back of his music store. _Wonderful._

My father is very interesting when it comes to his job. Like, he wears a fancy suit and a tie to work, but he works at a _music store._ Or, he carries around a briefcase with him, but it doesn't have anything important in it; jut his lunch. In simpler words, he's awesome. _Yeah, I love my father._

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><p>I walk over to the door and pull it open quickly; slightly alarmed at the aggressive pace someone is ringing our buzzer at. Simon stands on the other side of the door, hair disheveled and panting in all his geeky glory. I open my mouth to question him why he's here, but never get the chance to before he is grabbing ahold of my wrist ad dragging me out of my apartment. I stumble at first from surprise, but obediently follow after him. When it appears clear to me exactly where we are headed, I dig my heels into the carpet. He stops and turns toward me with an exasperated expression, if not slightly frustrated.<p>

"Why'd you stop? Let's go!" he demands, pulling me towards the Lightwood's apartment door harder. I rip my wrist out of his grasp and raise an eyebrow up at him, pointing back towards my still-open apartment door.

"Why are we here? I was kind of busy." I inquire exasperatedly, my temper slightly slipping into my tone. Simon groans in pure frustration and points at the Lightwood's door again.

"We have a major situation with the state of our friendship, Clarissa. Your sketchbook can wait." He grinds out stubbornly, before taking ahold of my wrist again and leading me into the Lightwood's apartment. I stumble through the small entryway, coming into the kitchen, and turn to scowl at Simon.

"What the hell do you want? What could _possibly_ be more important than me eating dinner?" I practically growl, glaring up at him fiercely. He bites down on his bottom lip harshly, but stays silent as he passes by me and disappears down the hallway that leads to everyone's bedrooms. I just stare dumbly after him, until a familiar voice breaks me out of my trance.

"What are we looking at that is so interesting? Hmm? I know _for a fact_, that the hallway cannot _possibly_ be more interesting than yours truly." The voice whispers hotly into my ear, causing my to shiver at the odd, but somehow pleasing, feeling.

I spin around sharply, only to crash face-first into a solid chest. Said chest vibrates with laughter, and then I am being pulled back by familiar and lean hands. Jace smiles down at me, amusement shining in the depths his eyes, and holds me at arm's length away from his body. _Where you secretly long to be,_ whispers the evil voice in the back of my mind. _Shut up, dammit! He's right there!_ I roll my eyes up at him and shake my head, before stepping out of his grasp and nodding my head towards the hallway in question.

"Why have I just been kidnapped from my nourishment? We were having lasagna, too." I grumble the last part under my breath, but otherwise look at his face curiously. He shakes his head slightly and blows out a long sigh.

"Nourishment is good." He states, before continuing. "No idea. Rat-boy and Izzy have been yelling at each other for about an hour though. It's starting to make me want to shove them both out of an eighth-story balcony." He almost growls, gritting his teeth when loud voices erupt from somewhere down the hallway. I lean towards the hallway slightly, trying to make out their conversation, but only manage to make out a few.

"Date… waited… Clary's here… ridiculous." Simon's voice fills my ears, and judging by the aggravation in his tone, when I go in there I won't be coming out for a while.

I bite my lip in thought, and then rush over to the front door of the apartment; swinging it open widely and dashing out the door within seconds. I vaguely hear Jace chuckle, but I'm already at my apartment's still-open door. I quickly make my way into the part of the kitchen that has the dining-table in it and walk over to where my plate of lasagna sits, starting to get cold.

My father looks at me with his eyebrows pulled to the center of his forehead in confusion, while Jon smirks at me in understanding amusement.

"Did Lewis finally figure out how to unhook a bra, or something?" he asks teasingly, most likely patting himself on the back for his 'intelligence'. I place my fork o my mostly-full plate in a way that it won't fall off while I'm walking, before rolling my eyes at him and speaking.

"No, Jon. Get your mind out of the gutter, please." I state tiredly, as if I'm bored of his immaturity, picking up my plate and starting to back out of the kitchen. "He and Izzy are fighting or something, so I'm going to go fix it." I say plainly. I try to make a break for the open apartment door, but my father's voice stops me dead in my tracks.

"And why, do pray-tell, does this activity require your dinner?" he inquires, sounding confused and a little lost. I see Jon snicker into his water-glass and mentally picture him choking on the simple substance. _Yeah, you go ahead and choke, Jonnie-Boy, and then we'll see who's laughing. Mother-fucking dipshit. _

"I'm hungry and I have a feeling that this'll take a while." And with that, I run out of the apartment; leaving a very confused father and hysterical brother in my wake.

When I reenter the Lightwood's apartment, Jace is sprawled out over the couch in the living-room. A bag of BLT flavored chips lays open on his stomach and the TV is turned on to _Supernatural._ In a momentary relapse of memory, I wander over to the empty loveseat and plop myself down onto the fancy leather cushions.

The Lightwoods are very well-off money wise, kind of like my family, but they, again like us, continue to live at The Institute. For some reason, my parents have never considered moving into an actual house. We've lived at The Institute for as long as I remember, and I'm fine with that. I love The Institute, plain and simple. Of course, it isn't like any ordinary apartment building. Each apartment has at least two bedrooms, or four like mine, but they do go all the way up to six bedrooms, like the Lightwood's apartment. They have a guestroom in their apartment, whereas my mother has turned our guestroom into an art-room. The Institute is a really nice place to live in; you just have to know how to cooperate with Madame Dorthea's temper.

I set my plate of lasagna on my lap and tune into the show, biting back a dreamy sigh at the sight of Dean Winchester. _Perfection. _

"Did you just sigh like a fucking fan-girl?" Jace's incredulous voice breaks me out of my internal fantasies. _Apparently I suck at biting back dreamy sighs. Fuck me… literally. _I look over to where he has paused in his devour-everything-in-sight fest, setting down the bag of chips at his feet and sitting up like a normal person, and shrug halfheartedly.

"Maybe." And with that I pick up my fork and shovel a bite of lasagna into my mouth. _My god, my father is an amazing cook._ I see Jace eye my plate in my peripheral and turn to him fully, swallowing before speaking. "What?" he just shrugs and nods towards my plate, eyeing it like a fat kid who was told to go on a diet.

"Where'd you get that?" he asks nonchalantly, but I see right through his bullshit. I roll my eyes and point towards the front-door with my fork.

"There's still half a pan left in the kitchen. Have at it." I tell him, knowing fully well that he's just itching for the chance to eat my food. He shakes his head and smiles politely at me. _Since when has Jace been polite?_

"Oh, I couldn't…" he starts, sounding like a kind old lady who's just been offered money for feeding her daughter's dog, only to quickly jump off of the couch and dash out the door before I can comment. _I knew he wasn't that polite. _I chuckle under my breath and shake my head at the door that he left ajar on his way out.

"Did you even have dinner yet?" I call after him, knowing that he can still hear me.

"Yes, but I'm still starving!" he yells back, his voice slightly muffled by the distance. I sigh and sink back into the loveseat, preparing to get comfy and watch sexy demon hunters, when a loud thud sounds from down the hallway where the bedrooms are. _Shit! I forgot about Simon!_

I stand up and balance my plate in my hands again, before starting down the hallway. I briskly walk pass Alec, Max, and Jace's rooms, until I reach Izzy's. Hers has a glittery sign that reads '_Izzy'._ I move my plate onto one of my hands and knock on the door, quite loudly so that they can hear me over their yelling.

The door opens and Simon grabs my arm, thankfully not the one that has my food in it, swiftly pulling me inside of Izzy's room and closing the door. He turns to me and sighs, as if in relief, before waving a hand out at Izzy's fuming form on her bright-pink bed.

"She needs to get her priorities straight! I tried to do what she wanted, but she keeps changing her mind!" he states, rather loudly might I add. Izzy rolls her eyes with attitude, and then launches into a rather loud lecture. Simon starts talking along with her as she tries to win me onto her side, but all that I do is walk over to her desk-chair and sit down. I watch with mild interest as they continue to talk over the other, taking bites of my lasagna as they rant at each other.

By the time they're done yelling over each other, I have finished my food and am looking desperately at the door; wanting to leave and go watch sexy demon hunters with Jace. _That way I'd be surrounded by hot guys. Sign me up!_ Finally, I get aggravated at the pair in front of me and snap.

"Shut up! Both of you!" They immediately quiet down, looking to the floor like the reprimanded children they are. I stand up from my seat at Izzy's desk and walk over to the door, my empty food-plate in hand. "Now, what's the problem." I ask, staring both of them down like a cruel teacher. Izzy bites her lip and shrugs slightly, appearing to be embarrassed.

"We were going to go on a date next week, but Simon has band practice every day and I have to go to the guys' practices." She states quietly, avoiding my eyes. Simon flushes slightly and drops himself onto the ground, covering his face with his palms.

"Yeah. That." He murmurs into his hands, sounding exhausted. I quickly glance at the clock set on Izzy's bedside-table and notice that it's almost 8:00pm. I sigh and shuffle the plate that's in my hands back and forth idly.

"Okay, when did you guys start dating?" I ask tiredly, suddenly not having energy for this drama. They both shrug and smile slightly up at me from their positions on lower objects than me, making me taller than them. _For once. _"Never mind that, for now. Why can't you guys just take a day off from the bands?" I inquire suggestively. Simon bites his lip in thought and shrugs again.

"I have Friday off, but Izzy has to be at _The Fallen's_ practice then." He states, spitting out 'The Fallen' like poison. I roll my eyes at his ability to overlook simple solutions and sigh, opening the door as I go.

"Just go on Friday. Izzy doesn't really _need_ to be at the guys' practice anyway. All she does is make fun of them anyway." And with that I exit the room, now completely done with teenage-drama for the next millennium. I faintly hear Izzy talking to Simon in an excited voice, but don't stay to find out what she's actually saying.

When I make it back to the living-room, Jace is laying on the couch again; this time with a blanket draped over his lower half. One of my family's plates sits on the table that sits in front of the couch and the bag of chips from earlier lays beside it, abandoned. I lazily walk over to the loveseat, set down my plate next to Jace's, and throw myself down; sighing deeply. Jace looks over at me and raises an eyebrow up at me in amusement.

"Have fun?" he inquires, propping his head up with one of his hands. I groan and rest my head again the back of the loveseat.

"No. Those two are lethal when it comes to arguing, let me tell you." I mumble tiredly, closing my eyes briefly.

I hear Jace chuckle and his blanket rustle, and then I am being lifted into strong arms. I open my eyes and gasp in panic, before realizing that Jace is just moving me over to his couch. He gently places me down on the front part of the wide couch, and then climbs onto it behind me. His arms wrap around my waist and pull me to his chest, somehow pulling the blanket up over both of us in the process. I sigh in content and snuggle back into Jace's arms deeper, basking in the warmth of my best-friend. I feel him press a kiss to the top of my head and rest his chin on my shoulder directly after. My eyes catch sight of the empty plates on the short table and I can't help but look behind me slightly at Jace, who has his eyes trained intently on the TV.

"Did you ravage my fridge?" I ask curiously, also looking over at the TV. _Supernatural_ is still on, thankfully. I feel him nod against my shoulder.

"Yep. Your father just stared at me while I helped myself. He probably thinks that I secretly wait outside of you guys' door until there's food ready to be eaten." He chuckles out, his chest vibrating against my back. I giggle quietly and yawn.

"Most likely. Are you nervous for tomorrow?" I inquire distractedly, my eyes now trained on Dean Winchester's beautiful features. _Why does he have to be twice my age? Why?!_

Tomorrow is the gig that might have some music-scouts at. The guys practiced for three hours straight the past two days just to prepare for it, so they have a reason to be nervous. They, after all, only had two days to practice for this gig.

Jace sighs tiredly and buries his face into the crook of my neck.

"Kinda. Not really though. We practiced for, like, _four hours straight_ on the _one song_ that we're playing, so I think that we'll do great." He states quietly, yawning halfway through his sentence. I nod slightly, my eyes starting to grow heavy, and yawn again. _Yawning's contagious, y'know…_

"I'm tired. Maybe I should go home before I fall asleep here." I mumble, already half asleep. Jace tightens his hold on my when I start to move off of the couch and pulls me back against him more firmly, making me feel completely safe and content.

"No, don't leave. Stay." He murmurs softly into my ear, tugging the blanket up over us more until it covers both of our shoulders. I sigh and nod, allowing my eyes to slip closed.

"M'kay…" I trail off, exhaustion finally getting to me. _And it's not even 9:00pm yet._ The last thing that my mind registers before giving into sleep's warm embrace, is Jace pressing a soft kiss to my forehead.

"Night, Clare." His smooth voice floats through my ears, soothing me into the welcoming abyss that is unconsciousness.

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><p><strong>So, there you go. Enjoy! It's currently like 4:00am, so I'm going to go to sleep now.<strong>

**Thanks to all of you for reviewing and telling me your thoughts. **

**Cassandra Clare owns all, except for the plot and my ideas. :D**

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	9. Chapter 9

_Jace POV_

The glass feels cold against my forehead as Alec drives the group to Pandemonium for the gig. I close my eyes and try to let my mind relax slightly before we have to go on the stage for a sound-check when we arrive at the large club. No matter what I may have said to Clary yesterday, I am still kind of nervous for the gig tonight. Well, not tonight anymore really. More like an hour.

I am pulled out of my thoughts by the large SUV shrieking to a halt, and my head ramming against the window harshly. _Ow…_ I open my eyes and look up at Alec through the mirror at the front of the car sharply, glaring at him and rubbing my head at the same time. I hear quiet grumbles come from the rest of the group that is in the car, which includes everyone but Jordan, Maia, and Rat-boy who are all coming in their own vehicles, and I unbuckle my seatbelt before scooting to the edge of my seat and leaning over the middle-counsel of the car in order to get closer to Alec.

"What the hell, dude? My face hurts now…" I mumble, still rubbing my forehead and wincing over-exaggeratedly. He swivels around in his sat to face me and grins a very un-Alec-like grin. _So he's basically wearing my grin… douche-canoe. _

"You needed to wake up from your nap, Princess. I was only doing you a favor and alerting you that we have arrived to the castle." He states boldly, his face completely serious aside from the slightest twitch upwards in his lip. I furrow my brow in mock-concern and reach over the counsel to place the back of my hand to his forehead. I sigh and shake my head, before turning to the seat behind me, the third row of seats in the SUV, and facing Clary.

"He has a high fever. Maybe we should feed him Izzy's cooking to make him well." I say, watching with mild amusement as she struggles to unbuckle her seatbelt. After she finally gets it unbuckled, with Izzy's help of course, she smirks and looks to her left where Izzy sits.

"I don't know, that would probably make him go into shock; not make him feel better." She says wearily, eyeing Izzy unsurely and scooting over towards the window that is on her right. Izzy growls dangerously at the both of us, before slapping Jon, who is sat in the seat in front of her, upside the head and pointing towards the still-closed door.

"Can you move your fat ass so that I can get out? The car has stopped, if you haven't noticed, Jackass." She demands, slapping him again to gain his attention back to her when his eyes flutter down to his phone. He makes a noise that sounds like a whine mixed with a groan, before flinging the door open and hopping out of the car. Izzy quickly climbs through the gap between me and Jon's seats in the middle of the vehicle and exits said vehicle, being sure to elbow me in the face as she went. I groan and massage my face again, glaring at her through the now-open car door. Clary laughs quietly from her seat and gently brushes her fingers over my 'wound'.

"Aw, you poor baby. Did the mean old lady give you a boo-boo?" she asks teasingly, talking in a soft tone like one would to a small infant. I sniff and nod, giving her doe-eyes and sticking my bottom lip out for good measure.

"Uh-huh." I mumble, looking up into her beautiful emerald- I mean, green eyes. _Yeah, no you didn't, Bro… Shut up._ She pats my head playfully, _like I'm a fucking dog_, before moving to exit the car.

"I'm not old, Bitch!" Izzy's voice floats into my ears, causing both Clary and I to grin evilly at each other.

"Whatever lets you sleep at night, Iz." Clary calls back, smirking to herself and stepping down from the tall vehicle. I get out of the car from the door on my side and round the black SUV to join the rest of the group.

We are parked around the back of the club in the employee's parking-lot, because that's where Luke told Clary we were supposed to park. Apparently, this gig is a lot bigger than we all originally thought; like a lot bigger. The parking-lot, according to Luke's earlier information, will be packed by the time that the bands start performing, explaining the reason that all of the bands and staff have to park around back.

"Come get your stuff, guys." Alec calls from the back of the SUV. Jon and Jordan both run to the back to gather their guitars, while the rest of us stay at the front of the car. Seb and I don't really have instruments that we can carry with us, with Seb's only portable parts being his drumsticks and mine being a microphone that I didn't care to bring tonight, so we just stay with Izzy and Clary.

The group starts towards the doors that lead into the club after Alec locks up the car, horsing around like the idiots that we are, and I follow their lead. I look around at the back of the large building that looms up in front of me and bite my lip in thought.

The back of the building isn't as appealing in the back as it is in front, with its neon-signs and large windows overlooking the roads in front of it. The doors in the back are rusted and dirty-looking, the brick of the building is covered with mazes of graffiti, and the large alleyway where we have parked the car is littered with metal trashcans and lone garbage-bags that have been set outside of the rusted doors.

I feel a presence side up with me and look to my left in mild curiosity. Clary grins up at me and bumps me with her shoulder, only hitting me in my ribcage with her short stature. _She might hate it, but I love that she makes me feel like a giant. –Enter smug smirk here-_

"So, what are you thinking about?" she inquires, idly looking around the alley as we walk. I shrug slightly and nudge her with my elbow.

"Nothing important. Are you excited to be amazed by my heavenly vocals?" I ask cockily, even going as far as shooting her a wink to back-up my statement. She rolls her eyes playfully and laces her arm through mine, hanging off of me like a sloth.

"I think that, by the end of the night, you guys are going to have enough fan-girls, so you won't even need my input to boost your egos. I'll pass on inflating your already-overly-large heads, and instead raid the snack-bar that Luke promised would be backstage." She states, smiling up at me with a child-like excitement shining in her eyes. I shake my head down at her in disbelief and choke out an incredulous chuckle.

"You would rather be at the snack-bar, than compliment me on my God-given talents?! Is that what just came out of your mouth, Clare?!" I gasp dramatically, glaring down at her in betrayal. She grins and walks through the doorway into the club, which I hadn't even noticed that we had reached. Alec is holding the door open for everyone, ever the gentleman, and rolls his eyes at my expression. I stomp through the doorway mockingly and up to Clary, who has stopped about ten feet from the door and is staring around herself in amazement.

"Yes." She says plainly when I stop at her side, her voice slightly breathless and her eyes glued to something across the relatively-large room. I take on an air of mock-hurt and stumble back away from her, holding one of my hands to my chest.

"That wounds me! Right in my angelic heart, Clare!" I wipe a 'tear' from my eye and turn away from her, hearing her musical laughter in the background as I meander away from her to explore the backstage of the club.

The backstage-room-thing is what the doors from the alley led to, so here we are. No decorations have been put up, so I am confused as to why Clary was so amazed when we entered, but I understand after taking in the entire room. The snack-bar is huge and is also set up on the other side of the large room, exactly where my short friend was staring at so intently. I roll my eyes at her 'relationship' with all things unhealthy and start towards the other guys, who are standing in a small semi-circle by the guy who controls the sound-system and lights on the side of the stage.

They all look up from whatever they were doing when I near them and the sound-guy sighs, as if relieved by my presence. _Can't blame him for being relieved; I would be too. _He has brown hair, brown eyes, and towers over me at, like, 6'6. Jordan, Jon, and Alec all have their instruments slung over their backs and out of their cases, so I know that the sound-check is going to be starting momentarily.

"There you are! Luke told me that you guys would be filling in for one of the other bands, so I have a feeling that this is your first big gig." He states, though it comes out sounding like a question. I nod along with the rest of the guys and look expectantly up at the man; simply because he is really tall, like a full head above me, compared to my 5'11 frame. He looks down at a monitor briefly, before leading us onto the stage.

"You guys don't really have to do anything for the sound-check, except for whoever is singing or doing back-up vocals. Luke said that two of you did vocals at your last gig, so…" he trails off and glances back at us questioningly, as he leads us over to where the mics are set up. Jordan and I exchange a glance and I nod slightly, before turning to the sound-guy.

"Yeah, both of us are doing that…" I trail off, sounding extremely unprofessional. The guy chuckles amusedly and motions towards the mics.

"Alright, just sing at the volume that you normally would so that I can adjust the settings, and then you can go backstage again." He tells us, before nodding at the mics and disappearing off of the stage. "Okay, you can sing now!" he calls loudly from backstage. I look at Jordan and shrug, before picking up a mic and bringing it to my lips.

I look out at the club, taking note of the clusters of people spread out over the entire club. Some of them have guitars and basses slung over their backs, so I'm guessing that they're the other performers. By the number of people gathered into small groups throughout the club, this gig is going to be really long. Like, a few hours long_. At least._

The club itself has been decorated with posters on the walls and tables set up neatly in the back toward the bar. Instead of the neon strobe-lights that were blaring from the ceiling at our last gig, white lights flash slowly from random points in the club and stage-lights illuminate the most part of the vast building. The shadowed booths in the back that line the walls have been decorated with strings of Christmas-lights and have menus for the bar laid out neatly on the surface of the tables.

I take in a deep breath, before starting to sing at the volume that I would if we were practicing in Seb's garage-music-room-thing. A few heads of the people on the ground-floor look up at me when I start, but I just smirk down at them and keep singing the very sophisticated song that I chose. _Yes. I did choose 'The Ants Go Marching One-by-One'. I'm a mature mother-fucker!_

I hear Jordan snicker to himself and send him a wink, while I finish the last line of the song. The rest of the guys that weren't needed on the stage had left while I was singing, but I hear their laughter from the side of the stage. I glance over and grin, satisfied that I managed to amuse my idiotic friends. Jordan shakes his head at me and smiles, before looking down at his shoes distractedly.

"You're really immature." He states factually, but when he risks glancing up at me, a wicked glint hints in his eyes. I grin at him and nod, before walking over to the side of the stage where the sound-guy and the rest of the guys are at.

"Was that good?" I ask the sound-guy when I reach where he is. He smiles at me and nods.

"Yep. You can come off-stage for now if you want." He tells me, before yelling to Jordan that he can start singing now. Jon claps me on the shoulder with a fatherly grin plastered onto his face, before turning back to the stage to watch Jordan.

Jon and I have never been that close, with me being best-friends with his sister and the whole age difference thing, but we do get along surprisingly well. And usually end up acting like five-year-olds whenever we're together. That would be the reason why Clary refuses to hang-out with us when we go out in public; when it's just me and Jon, I mean.

I am brought out of my thoughts, by Jordan's voice blasting through the speakers. His song choice literally leaves me speechless… for a moment… and then I burst out laughing.

"_It's okay, when it's in a 3-way. It's not gay, when it's in a 3-way. Put some honey in the middle, gain some leeway. The area's gray, in a 1-2-3-way."_ He sings, laughter erupting from throughout the entire club. The guys and I are all doubled over and roaring with laughter, Seb even looks like he's about to start crying.

When Jordan finally halts his singing, he chuckles and runs off of the stage after placing the mic back onto its stand. His cheeks are flushed and he looks mildly embarrassed at his little display. The guys and I all laugh harder and the sound-guy shakes his head whilst chuckling at him.

"You guys are something else, let me tell you." He mumbles under his breath as he does something with one of the many monitors on his little cart-thing. Jordan ducks his head down and bites his lip, looking extremely embarrassed now. I just laugh and nudge him with my shoulder, before looking over to Jon when he starts talking.

"Hey, we never got you name…" he trails off expectantly, causing the guy to glance up at me and smile.

"Bat. Name's Bat." He explains, nodding his head at all of us. We all nod, and then head off to fins where our 'manager' is at. _Most likely the snack-bar…_

* * *

><p>Truth be told, Clary was not only at the snack-bar when we found her, but she had also scared off the poor dude who was supposed to be running it. Apparently he was supposed to supervise the bands and whatnot while watching the snack-bar, but I think that he's going to get fired because of slacking off. <em>Not that it's his fault though; Clary can be scary when it comes down to food. And her coffee. I mess up and forget to put sugar in her cup one time...<em>

When we had to drag her away from her new-found 'love', she growled at us. Actually growled, but eventually followed us to our little bench that we got to keep our stuff on for the night. Of course, with her being Clary and all, she stuffed about three of the mini-pizzas in her mouth before she went with us. It was very entertaining to watch.

Right now, we are waiting for our turn on the stage. About five other bands have performed before us, so the crowd is all riled up and ready to go. Bat is sitting at his little station on the side of the stage, Luke is standing readily in front of Bat's cart-thing, and the current band is finishing up their song; a bad version of _Here Without You by 3 Doors Down._

All of our parents showed up when the club's owners first opened the doors at 8:00pm, so somewhere in the massive crowd we have at least ten fans; not counting Maia, Izzy, and Clary. _Well, I hope that they're our fans…_

Around five minutes before the 'concert', or gig, started, I got a text from my poor excuse of a girlfriend. Kaelie texted me, _texted me_, to say that she couldn't make it and that she'd see me whenever. _It's like she's asking to be dumped. _I had just sighed tiredly and turned my phone off, before rejoining the group's conversation once more. Clary had given me a sympathetic look and smiled at me with anger shining in her eyes. She's made it pretty apparent that she hates Kaelie and I can't really blame her; I'm just about done with her on-n-off shit myself.

The current band finally finishes destroying the once-good song and Luke jumps at the chance to usher them off of the stage. Clapping sounds from the crowd out in the club and I can tell that it is more out of curtesy than anything. _They kind of sucked ass… Not to be rude or anything…_

Luke announces that we're next and we all huddle into a little group quickly. Clary is standing by my side and grins up at us encouragingly, causing my heart to flutter unsteadily. _What the fuck-_

"You guys will be awesome. Just do exactly what you practiced the past two days, and you'll do great." She tells us brightly, cutting off my internal questioning. She places her hand in the middle of the huddle and looks up at all of us expectantly, at which we all lay our hands over hers. "Oh! And have fun." She adds, before counting down and doing the whole 'Go-Team' thing. We all chuckle at her excited energy and turn towards the stage just as Luke finishes announcing our arrival.

"Now, I present to you _The Fallen!"_ he yells into the mic enthusiastically, causing the crowd to roar loudly in my ears. The guys start walking onto the stage, but a hand stops me from going right away. Clary pulls me into a tight, but quick, hug and leans up to my ear.

"Good luck." She whispers, before kissing my cheek lightly and pushing me towards the stage. I wink and grin back at her, before walking fully onto the stage.

When I get to the mic that I'm supposed to use, I pick it up and quickly look out across the crowd.

Apparently, there are supposed to be several talent-scouts in the audience tonight. By the looks of things though, I couldn't even make out Maryse and Robert if I tried. The crowd is almost triple the size of the one at our first gig, so this must really be a big deal. I start to wonder if we're in over our heads, but snap myself out of it quickly. I bring the mic up to my lips and smile hugely down at the crowd, before starting talking.

"Hey, we're _The Fallen_ and this is our version of _Never Too Late by Three Days Grace._" I call into the mic, basically the same as last time, before counting down and the guys start to play. Jordan has switched out his electric-guitar for an electric-acoustic, so the song sounds really cool. I sneak a quick glance at Clary, who is standing at the side of the stage, before I start singing and wink at her. She flashes me a quick thumbs-up and nods at me, and then I am singing my heart out. _Let's do this…_

* * *

><p><strong>Hi. Sorry for the slightly late update. I was reading… I know; bad excuse…<strong>

**Anyway… Cassandra Clare owns all, except for my stuff. You know the usual routine. :D**

**Notes about chapter:**

_**3-Way- The Lonely Island (this song makes me laugh so hard)**_

_**Here Without You- 3 Doors Down**_

_**Never Too Late- Three Days Grace (love it!)**_

**I don't own any of the songs that I used…blah, blah, blah… okay. :D**

**Thanks for reviewing and telling me your thoughts. It means a lot to me. :D**

**Review&Follow**


	10. Chapter 10

_Clary POV_

I bob my head up and down to the beat of the guys' music, smiling widely at Jace as he takes control of the crowd. The crowd is singing along to the song with him and the smile on his face shows his pleasure of that fact. I look around me, taking in Luke sitting on the edge of his seat while watching the guys perform and Bat turning various nobs on the little cart-thing that has the control-panels for the lights on it.

After a moment of debating whether or not it would be a good idea to sit down next to Luke, I give in and make my way over to one of the empty seats beside him. He looks over o me when I sit down and smiles, nodding towards the stage in the process.

"They've improved since the last time I heard them perform." He tells me, a proud look transforming his features. I nod and smile, looking back at the guys as they continue to play their hearts out.

"I know. They've worked really hard these past few weeks. It's really amazing what a little motivation can do." I say, nodding to myself slightly. "And ice-cream. They made me buy them ice-cream; like, after every practice." I add as an afterthought, causing Luke to chuckle heartily and his smile to widen.

"Well, they certainly deserved it. Your boys there, they just might win this little competition tonight." He states factually, an impressed look crossing his features as his eyes follow Jace's singing form on the stage. I furrow my brows in confusion and turn towards him fully.

"W-what," I pause to clear my throat, before continuing. "What competition?" I inquire, my tone slightly panicked. He stare at my face, his eyes incredulous.

"_This_ competition. I told you over the phone that a lot of bands would be here tonight to _compete._ That's the whole point of the talent-scouts being in the audience." He tells me, gesturing around him as if his statement should've been obvious. _Well, shit._ I swallow nervously and glance back towards the stage, where the guys are just starting to end _Never Too Late by Three Days Grace. _

"I just thought that this was like the last gig we went to; an open-mic-night kind of thing." I say, biting my lip in concern. The guys were going to kill me when they find out that I signed them up for a competition without their consent. Luke looks particularly concerned as his eyes flicker from the stage back to me several times, before he sighs and lays a reassuring hand on my arm and smiles kindly down at me.

"I guess that it really doesn't matter now. Your boys are doing great and they could win some big bucks if the judges like them as much as I do. They're my personal favorite." He tries to calm me down, but his statement just ends up raising my anxiety levels to the max.

"They could win money?! Wait, that doesn't matter right now. There are_ judges _here too?! Where?" I demand, looking behind me for the supposed 'judges'. He chuckles and turns me around so that I'm facing him again, before pointing to the stage and out towards the audience.

"They're sitting in one of the back booths that line the walls." He says, nodding at the roaring crowd from where he sits. I bite my lip and stare intently at the audience, trying to find the judges' table.

"So, what's the prize if they win?" I ask curiously, after finally having given up on finding the mysterious judges table in the packed in. Luke chuckles deeply and nods to himself, his eyes showing his amusement.

"Well, our sponsors, who are the judges by the way, donated several thousand dollars. Third place gets one-thousand, second place gets five-thousand, and first place, if I remember correctly, wins ten-thousand. Some big music store is also going to give gift-cards out to all of the participants after the show, too. Then, after we finish deciding and rewarding the performers, the talent-scouts are going to be let off of their imaginary 'leash'. The ones who were impressed by what they heard, will probably round up that particular b and try to strike some sort of deal. Whether or not they'll be handing out contracts and immediate fame, well, that's not within my knowledge. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess." He explains, smiling widely as Jon's guitar strums the last chords of the song. I nod to myself and stand up along with him when he does.

"Yeah, okay. Thank you, by the way; for helping the guys out so much. They wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you." I tell him as I walk back over to my original place at the side of the stage. He nods in acknowledgement and waves his hand at me nonchalantly.

"Don't mention it, really. You just have to promise me that when those boys of yours become famous, and trust me that they will, you have to scream my name on the radio. At least once." He says playfully, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiles again. I giggle and nod my consent.

"Deal." And with that, the guys start piling off of the stage and Luke jogs out onto the now-empty stage with his mic in hand. I quickly sidestep the group of boys that are hurtling themselves at me and hastily make my way over to the bench where we are keeping our stuff for the night, glancing over my shoulder to make sure that none of them try to tackle me to the ground while I'm not looking.

When I am almost to the bench, someone picks me up and spins me around in a circle, gaining an outraged cry from my chest. I look down and see gold eyes staring up into mine with giddiness that is unpronounced, a wide grin proving my theory. Jace's hands are gently holding my waist as he lifts me up so that I'm a couple of inches taller than him and I have to place my own hands on his shoulders to keep myself balanced. His chuckle vibrates throughout my entire being, stirring something foreign inside of me.

"We were awesome, Clare! Did you see us?" he asks excitedly, gazing up at me in wonder. I giggle and nod up to him, my earlier anger at him for picking me up forgotten.

"Yeah, you guys did great out there!" I exclaim, squeezing his shoulders tighter when he starts walking towards the bench with me still in his arms. When I see the bench that has our stuff on it begin to appear over my shoulder, I start wiggling around in his arms and pushing at his shoulders. "Now, can you put me down, please? I have a feeling that we are about to be assaulted by several teenage boys as soon as they get finished with whatever they're doing." I tell him, still struggling to get out of his hold. He just tightens his grip on me and swings me up further into his arms, so that he is now cradling me to his chest. _And what a fine chest it is…_

"Nah, I don't think so. I've told you before and I'll tell you again; I like holding you. It's almost like having my _own personal dolly_." He says, the last part in a high-pitched voice that makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time. I just settle on laughing instead and decide that I might as well make myself comfortable. _If I know anything about Jace, and I know more than I should, it's that when he makes up his mind, being the stubborn little douche that he is naturally, he won't give up or do anything other than what he wants to do. Point and blank. _

"Whatever." I mumble grumpily, shifting slightly in his arms so that my head is resting against his collarbone as he lowers himself onto an empty portion of the bench. He just chuckled throatily, _or sexily; whichever you prefer, _and leans back against the wall that's behind the bench.

"You know that you love it, Clare. Just admit that you secretly like having your own personal carrier." He whispers hotly into my ear as he adjusts me slightly so that I'm now cuddled into his arms. I shrug and look up at him from where I am positioned on his lap, taking in the adoring look that has settled in the depths of his eyes. I swallow thickly at the feeling that settles in the pit of my stomach when I look into his eyes, but can't quite summon the strength to look away.

Do you know how when in books, the female love-interest looks into the male love-interest's eyes and seems to get lost; like all of her thoughts were stolen along with her breath and all of her common-sense? Well, that pretty much sums up my situation here. The only thing that's different is that I'm almost positive that Jace is feeling the same way that I do; simply because of the hazy glaze that has taken over his once-bright, golden orbs.

We must've just sat there, staring at each other, for longer than I thought, because the next thing that I know, four large forms are crashing into us and lifting us up off of the bench. I, somehow, end up in the middle of the group-hug, so I am being squeezed within an inch of my life from all directions with no way to escape.

"Luke said that we're his favorite. Bat did too! Man, we're awesome!" Jon declares after a moment of extreme hugging, his voice carrying throughout the back-stage area in an echo. The guys all add their agreements, but all that I do is push at the wall of testosterone to try to be free. _Be free, mother fucker! We've got to be free!_

"Would you guys _please_ move your fat asses out of my way?! I'm suffocating on douche-bag!" I cry, shoving at a random limb that comes in between me and my freedom. I can literally see the floor on the other side of the huddle, but somebody just had to ruin my life. _Damn it! And I was so close, too._

Finally, after continuing to struggle and throw several punches at random abdomens, one of the guys moves out of the huddle and allows me to escape. I practically sprint out of the cage and throw myself down onto the bench, dragging in deep breath of fresh air. _Is there a reason that all boys smell constantly like shit, or do they purposely roll around in it just to torment me? _

I glare up at the guys when the start laughing and flip them off, shuddering when the distinctive smell of boy lingers in the air as I gulp down another breath. I meet Jace's eye and immediately look away at the longing stare that he has already fixed me with. I try to focus on anything other than Jace's eyes. For example: _Why in the hell do the guys smell so bad today. They surely didn't smell like this earlier… maybe they just have always smelt like that._ _Well… that is, all except Jace. He always smells great, like, edible-great. Yep, it has been decided. If I ever get the chance to taste my best-friend, I'm not going to turn that offer down… Wow, I sound like a fucking psychotic carnivore._

"You assholes need to bathe in pure cologne, or something. You guys are really starting to live up to your nick-names." I state, scowling up at them as they start to put their instruments back into their designated cases. Seb plops himself down beside me and throws a grin my way, a curious yet amused look shining in his eyes.

"And, do pray-tell, what would be our nick-names be, Shorty?" he inquires, leaning back against his hands and eyeing me lazily. I growl at the unaffectionate name and kick him in the shin with my foot, before responding.

"First if all, I'm not short, Jackass. I'm fun-sized. I even have a T-shirt to prove it. Second of all, you guys' nick-names are all 'Asshole'. Therefore, you all smell like ass." I explain, nodding to myself in satisfaction as Seb takes on an air of being offended.

"Are you implying that we," he gestures dramatically to himself and the rest of the guys. "smell like _ass?_ How _dare_ you!" he exclaims, causing me to smother my giggle into my palm. I watch in pure, unadulterated amusement as he stands up from his seat and runs over to my brother, who is slinging his now-packed-away guitar-case over his shoulder. "Did you hear what she said about our hygiene, Jon?! She insulted all that is man!" Jon just chuckles and shakes his head slightly at his best-friend.

"Dude, you barely count as a man." And with that, we all burst out laughing; Seb pouting and fighting off a smirk unsuccessfully.

* * *

><p>"Alright, everybody! How was the show, huh?" Luke roars into the mic, looking down expectantly to the crowd. Said crowd starts yelling and cheering out loudly, making Luke smile and nod his head in approval.<p>

The guys are standing in a group on the stage, only a few feet away from the next band. Around ten bands are all lined up across the large stage, nervousness and excitement flowing from them like a river. Everybody has been on their toes for the past hour, waiting for the contest to finish up and for the judges to announce the winners.

When I had to break the news to the guys earlier, only about fifteen minutes after they had come off of the stage, they had all responded quite calmly. Well, at first. Jordan and Alec were pretty chill about the whole 'you-guys-are-competing-for-money-and-the-judges-attention' thing, while Jon and Seb just about made me want to go home. Seb had just stared at me for a while as my brother chewed me out about not knowing all the information before doing something, again. After Jon had gotten his rant out of his system, Seb looked as if he was about to start crying.

Jace was just happy that they could win money, so he ended up calming everybody down and saving my ass. Again.

Overall, everybody came to accept the fact that being naïve was the best way to go about this whole situation. Apparently, if I had known about the prize and the competition, the guys would've freaked out expertly and epically failed on the stage. At least they performed well.

That's all that I ask for.

"Wonderful, wonderful. Now, for the moment that you've all been waiting for, drumroll please." Luke pulls out a large, white piece of paper and pauses for a dramatic affect. "The third-place winner of tonight's competition and who are receiving one-thousand dollars is," he pauses again, making the audience lean forward in anticipation. "The Sledgehammer Saviors!" he bellows into his mic, causing the crowd to cheer loudly for the band that has just won. _The Sledgehammer Saviors… god, am I thankful that the guys have a semi-normal name. _

The band that Luke just announced is handed a smallish trophy, a piece of paper, and ushered to the middle of the stage, a small distance form where Luke himself stands. The bandmates look to be in their early twenties, _a lot older and more mature than the guys…_

"Coming in second-place and receiving five-thousand dollars is," Luke starts again, bringing my attention back to the stage. I take in a sharp breath, and hold it as he reads out the next band's name. "Walking on Gravestones!" The crowd's cheers seem to grow as the next band, also appearing to be in their twenties, walk over to where Luke stands and retrieve their trophy along with a piece of paper; most likely their money. _Their name… very morbid, but overall better than the sledgehammer guys over there…_

"And for the first-place winner and the receiver of the grand prize of ten-thousand dollars is," I bite my lip and allow my eyes to flicker to the guys' forms on the stage, taking in their slightly hopeful expressions. _It's all or nothing now, I guess,_ I think to myself as I hold my breath in a silent prayer. I see Luke's eyes flicker to mine briefly and try to decipher the look in his eyes. _Is that… excitement?_

"_The Fallen_!" he exclaims loudly, an overjoyed smile lighting up his face. The crowd roars and cheers, but all that I hear are those two words repeating on a loop. _The Fallen. The Fallen! They won. The guys won! Oh my fucking god, Clarissa! Your group of idiots won a damn contest!_

I lean towards the stage from my spot by the large, black curtain that I'm currently hiding behind and try to get a look at the guys. They're all just standing there, appearing to be completely dumbstruck. Jace is the only one who seems to still have a functioning mind, but he even looks as if he's in a daze. I watch as he leads the guys over to Luke, who hands Jace the _gigantic_ trophy that has been sitting loyally by his side all night along with a large piece of cardboard. I narrow my eyes slightly and look closer at the huge piece of cardboard that Jon I now holding to his chest like it's a small child.

_Ten-Thousand Dollars,_ is written on the line of the large check, which I just now notice that that is what the piece of cardboard is. My eyes widen into moons and I start laughing like a maniac, most likely scaring the poor people around me who are supporting the other bands.

Luke laughs good-naturedly and brings the mic up to his mouth again.

"Well, boys. Congrats! Would you like to say anything or…" he trails off uncertainly, watching the guys for a reaction. They all look at each other momentarily, before Jace nods and Luke hand the mic over to him.

"Can our favorite little red-head please come out here? I know you're there, Clary." He says, his question not sounding like a question at all but a demand. I swallow nervously and glance behind me at the door that leads to the alley where we parked our cars earlier. _Maybe I can make a run for it…_

"Clare, come on out. Please?" he asks angelically, and I just now notice that he has been staring directly at me this entire time. I sigh and hesitantly start walking onto the stage, ducking my head down to hide my blush when the crowd cheers for me. Jace grins at me wickedly and throws an arm around my shoulders when I reach him.

"See? Now that's better." He whispers into my ear, causing me to shiver and scoot closer to him, before turning back to the crowd. "I don't actually want to say anything. I just like embarrassing our dear Clary here." he states plainly, making the audience laugh loudly and me to turn my face into his chest. Jace hands the mic back to Luke, who chuckles into the mic when it reaches his lips.

"There you have it, folks. I hope that you enjoyed the show and, well, goodnight. Drive safely!" he calls out, finishing the competition.

The lights overhead in the vast club flicker on and Luke starts to usher all of the bands off of the stage. The crowd immediately dissolves into un-comprehendible chatter as we all walk towards our bench in silence.

I risk a glance up at the guys' faces from Jace's chest, because he has kept his arm around me as we made our way to the majority of our stuff. We placed the guys' instruments in Alec's car earlier so that they didn't have to worry about carrying it out later. They all just stare down at the floor for a moment, before all simultaneously lifting their heads and staring at me with dazed eyes.

"Did that really just happen?" Jon and Seb ask at the same time, both of their tones disbelieving. I nod and grin up at them. Silence greets our small group for a minute, before Jon pumps his fist up into the air and laughs heartily.

"Fuck yeah, Bitches!" and then they all start horsing around like the idiots that they are. Jace however, stays by my side with his arm thrown around my shoulders and just laughs as they goof around.

"Thanks, Clary. For everything." He whispers to me, before joining my brother in tackling Alec to the ground; leaving my completely confused and slightly disoriented. '_Thanks' for what? And god he smells amazing. Yup, I definitely would lick him if given the chance…_

* * *

><p>After we finish gathering our stuff and saying goodbye to Luke, we all go out into the main part of the club to find our parents. They're all gathered into a group by the bar and are laughing at something an unfamiliar man said. Jace has rejoined his arm around my shoulders, so I am tucked into his side. <em>Not that I mind or anything…<em>

As we near the group, I start to analyze the unfamiliar man. He has really tan skin, dark-brown eyes, brown, almost black hair, and is smiling widely at my father. When we're close enough to hear their conversation, I take note that he has a slight Spanish accent. _Interesting…_

"Oh, guys this is Raphael Santiago. He's one of the talent-scouts that were here for the show tonight. He and I go way back, don't we, Raph?" my dad tells us, nudging 'Raph' in the shoulder with his in the process. 'Raph' nods and smiles at all of us kindly, chuckling to himself as he nudges my dad back.

"Yes, we do. I could tell you guys some very embarrassing stories about when your father was in high-school and he decided that it'd be a good idea to streak through the girls' gym class-" he starts, only to get cut off by my father clearing his throat and looking frantically from him to Mom and back. 'Raph' seems to get the point, because he just chuckles again and turns back to us. "Maybe another time, then. Anyways, I would like to congratulate you boys on your 'victory', if you will. You all are very talented." He compliments them, most likely expanding their already too-large heads even further. Jon speaks up for the rest of the group and nods his head to Raphael in acknowledgement.

"Thanks." He says, seeming slightly unsure of what to say. Raphael smiles at him warmly, before his dark eyes find me and seem to light up with recognition.

"Ah, and you must be Clary. Am I right?" he asks, his voice softer now than when he was talking to the guys. I nod and lean slightly into Jace, my shy side coming out on full blast. Raphael grins down at me and pulls a small card out of his pocket.

"I heard through the grapevine that you are these boys' manager of sorts. I have to give you kudos, teenage boys can be quite the headache, can't they." He states, handing me the card as he speaks. I nod again and smirk up at Jace's affronted expression.

"Yeah, they're really annoying sometimes, but I love 'em. Well, _most _of them." I say, looking pointedly at Jon for the last part. His indignant scoff is drowned out by Raphael's laugh and I smile up at him, my shyness starting to wear off slightly.

"I bet they do get annoying sometimes. Back to the point, you keep doing whatever it is that you're doing for these boys of yours and I'll contact some of my connections. You just call me when their next gig is, and I'll clear my schedule in order to be there. You have yourself a group of upcoming stars, you just wait and see." And with that, he winks at me and walks straight out of the front door. I stare after him for a moment, slightly confused as to what just happened, but Jon's voice brings me back to reality.

"You don't love me?!" he cries dramatically, wiping a 'tear' off of his cheek. I roll my eyes and look down at the card that's still in my hands.

_**Raphael Santiago**_

_**(123)-456-7890**_

I smile down at the card and tuck it into my pocket, before turning back to Jon and smiling innocently.

"Why would you say that?" and then I poke him in his stomach, slip out from under Jace's arm, and start towards the backstage door, wanting to get back to Alec's car and go home. I am vaguely aware of Jon grumbling in the background, but I just keep on walking. _My bed and I have a very intimate relationship; we sleep together every night. He needs to be slept with and I can't deny him of his needs…_

* * *

><p><strong>I'm so sorry for the late update! Don't hate me, please. My computer was being a dick, again and I couldn't get it to turn on. I'm buying one on Black Friday, so I will be updating regularly from that point on. Again, sorry. <strong>

**There's the next chapter; enjoy! **

**Cassandra Clare owns all, except for my stuff. :D**

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	11. Chapter 11

_Jace POV_

2,000 dollars.

That's how much each of us got from the prize money that we won on Friday night. We all opted for Clary to get a decent amount of the cash, but she just shook her head and left the room. I'm still going to figure out a way to give Clare some of my portion of the money though. Even if I have to stick small amounts in her wallet when she's not looking for the next couple of months, she will get paid.

Today is the glorious day of the Sat; or as normal people would say, Saturday. It has been a whole week since we won the competition at Pandemonium, _on accident but anyway_, and we are all sitting in Alec's car with envelopes in our laps. Our parents suggested that we put at least half of our winnings in the bank, which Jon fought fiercely back about, so we're on our way back to The Institute from the bank. Jordan and Alec are sat in the front of the SUV, Seb and Jon are being idiots in the middle, and Clary and I are having an intense staring contest in the back.

I start taking out the money from my envelope, never blinking or taking my eyes off of hers, and begin fanning myself with it. She giggles quietly and tries to stop me from distracting her, but I just move the money-fan over to her face and start fanning her with my money. I was really smart about which form I wanted my five-hundred dollars in when we were at the bank; the other fifteen-hundred in my bank account for 'college' or some shit like that. All of the other guys got theirs in twenties or fifties, but no. I'm the smart one, remember?

I made the bank clerk give me five-hundred dollars in five-dollar-bills. I would've gotten all ones, but Clary talked me out of it. _She ruins all of my fun; well, most of it anyway._

"Damn you, Herondale!" she hisses, blinking and swatting the money away from her face. I chuckle mock-evilly and grin down at her, placing the large stack of bills back into the envelope.

"I told you that you would never defeat me, lowly peasant. Bow to your king!" I cry, nodding down at her in demand. She just rolls her eyes and scoffs, shaking her head all the way.

"Are we _seriously _going back to this again? I thought that you were done with the whole 'peasant' thing." She states, leaning back against her seat and staring at me in exasperation. I furrow my brow and tilt my head in confusion.

"What 'peasant' thing?" I inquire, not really understanding what she's implying. Clare just laughs under her breath and leans forward in her seat, so that her mouth is right by Jon's ear; who is sitting in front of her along with Seb.

"Jon, does Jace go to the whole 'you are all lowly peasants and I am your superior' thing whenever he wins at something?" she asks, causing Jon to turn around in his seat and plant his black eyes on me. He smirks and nods, looking back and forth from me to Clary.

"Yup. You do it, like, all the time." And with that, he spins back around in his seat and goes back to being a dipshit with Seb. _Fucking traitor._ I glare at him and sit back in my seat, turning my gaze to my window. Clary pats my arm gently and sighs, but I keep my eyes on the window stubbornly.

"It's okay, sweetie. We'll just get Elodie and she might be able to help you out, _Jay_." She whispers into my ear wickedly, her wide grin seeping into her voice. I shudder and shake my head, turning back to her with wide eyes. _Not that damned name again!_

"No. Please, no. Anything but that, Clare!" I beg her, only causing her grin to widen even further. She fixes her features into those of sympathetic, before speaking.

"Oh, _Jay._ You know that I have to help you. In fact, I think that I'll call her right now." She makes as if to grab her phone out of her pocket, but I already have it in my hand before she can even touch the small device. I hold it to my chest as if it's my only life-source and glare down at her challengingly.

"Not gonna happen, Clare." I state, moving the phone out of her grasp when she reaches over me to retrieve it. Clary's eyes widen when she sees my hand move lower down my body, towards my pants, and she reluctantly retracts her hand with her eyes still staring at the phone in my hand.

"You wouldn't dare." She practically growls, whimpering slightly when I use my other hand to pull my jeans slightly away from my skin. I move the phone closer to my pants and dare her with my eyes to make a move.

"You wanna bet?" I dead-pan, no matter how cliché it is. She stills for a moment, and then tries to grab the phone from out of my hand. To no avail though. I stuff the small object into my jeans and smirk at her, wiggling around slightly to make my point. She gasps and makes as if to get her phone out of my pants, but rethinks it and scoots back over to her side of the car.

"Asshole. Now I have to buy a new phone." She mumbles under her breath, causing me to laugh and turn back to my window. _Oh, Clare…_

* * *

><p>When we finally arrive at The Institute, we all pile out of the SUV and into the lobby of the apartment building. I throw an arm around Clary's shoulders and grin down at her when she glares up at me, obviously still sulking about me throwing her phone in my pants. I gave it back, don't worry. It's probably just slightly warm now, but she'll get used to it. <em>Maybe… <em>The rest of the guys run ahead of us and grab an elevator, but I make sure to hold Clary back when she makes a move to follow them.

"Are you still mad at me?" I ask innocently, jutting out my lower lip and fluttering my lashes dramatically. Her glare doesn't ease up, so I sigh and toss her over my shoulder before starting towards the elevator.

"Jace! Put me down, dammit!" she demands loudly, causing the few people who were talking in the lobby to look over at us in question. I smirk, imagining the bright-red flush that her face most likely adorns right about now, and just continue walking. "Put me down right now, you jackass." She hisses into my ear quietly, her embarrassment apparent in her tone. When I don't make a move to set her down, Clary digs her elbow into my shoulder as I maneuver us into the elevator that the rest of the guys have gotten. Jon watches on with amusement and laughs when Clary hits her head on the side of the metal box because she was struggling around.

"You better be still up there, Clary. You're going to hurt yourself more than usual if you don't." he tells her in between laughing. Clary stills above me and I carefully lower down to the ground, gently holding her around the waist as she stumbles slightly.

"Are you okay, Clare?" I ask, gazing down at her in concern. She reaches a hand up to her head and rubs it slightly, before looking into my eyes and nodding.

"Yeah, my head just hurts a little. No big deal." She states with a small smile, most likely trying to assure me that I didn't hurt her. I still feel guilty though, so I wrap my arms around her small form tightly and bring her to my chest, kissing the top of her head when she winds her own arms around my waist.

"Sorry." I mumble quietly into her ear, enjoying the feeling of her snuggling into my chest. My stomach tightens slightly when I feel her arms tighten around my waist in response and I silently scold myself for feeling _emotions_ for my best-friend. Like, they're not just plain old brotherly-love emotions either. They're full out I-want-you-to-be-with-me-romantically emotions.

I shake my head slightly and rest my chin on top of Clary's head, no matter how far I have to bend down to be able to do it. _You just need to call Kaelie and go on a date. You're just lonely and need to go out with your girlfriend for a while. God knows that you haven't been on an actual date for about a month,_ I try to convince myself. Unsurprisingly though, I don't feel any better. It could be the whole thing with my supposed _feelings_ for Clary, or it could be the whole deal with which I was seriously thinking about breaking up with said 'girlfriend' just last week.

"You guys should just start dating. Like, seriously. You basically already are." Seb's annoying voice penetrates my thoughts, snapping me out of my depressing stupor. I lift my chin from where it was sat on Clary's head and look over at him, only to see a smug smirk on his face as the rest of the guys nod in agreement with his statement.

"Yeah. You guys are, like, really close. Like, Simon and Izzy close." Jordan throws in, his eyes deep in thought as he nods along with the rest of the group. _Izzy and Rat-boy are dating? Since when… _

I feel Clary stiffen in my arms and bury her face deeper into my chest, so I decide to save her from further embarrassment.

"No, guys. We're just friends." _Even though I secretly wish that we weren't,_ the evil voice in the back of my mind whispers. _What? Who said that? (Insert nervous laugh here)_ "Besides, I already have a girlfriend. Just in case you forgot." I tell them, my tone a little more than bitter when I mention Kaelie. Clary shifts slightly in my arms and for a second I swear that I hear a disappointed sigh, but Jon interrupts me before I can do further investigation.

"Whatever, Jace. Everyone can see the chemistry between you two. You're the only ones who don't." he states, rolling his eyes and leaning up against the wall of the still-moving elevator. _Has it always been this slow?_ I wonder to myself, suddenly eager to be freed from the guys' questions. Telling by the way Clary buries herself even further into my chest; she can't wait to be off of the moving metal box either.

I sigh in frustration and lay my chin back on top of Clary's head, closing my eyes and ignoring the guys' jabs at our relationship until the elevator comes to a stop at our floor. When the 'ding' sounds throughout the small space, I hastily swing Clary up into my arms and make a beeline for my apartment. She giggles breathlessly and clings onto my neck for dear life as I throw open the door after unlocking it, sprint inside of the apartment, and slam the door shut before Alec can catch up to us with his key.

When I make it to my room I carelessly toss Clary onto my bed, shut my door, and then flop down onto my stomach beside her sprawled out form. She scoots over to me until we're both lying on our stomachs and leans her head against my shoulder with a sigh. I look over at her and pick up a piece of her hair, idly twirling it around in my fingers as I study her face intently. _She looks exhausted_, is my first thought. My second is, _she's beautiful,_ but I ignore that one for the time being.

"Are you okay? You look tired." I say softly, moving my gaze down to the strand of hair that I am still playing with. Her eyes close and she nods slightly, leaning her head more onto my shoulder.

"Yeah, I just didn't get any sleep last night. I kept having nightmares." She murmurs, her head slowly sliding off of my shoulder as she talks. I chuckle slightly and gather her into my arms, rolling over so that her head is positioned on my chest.

"Why do you keep having nightmares? Why didn't you come get me?" I ask gently, running a hand through her hair distractedly. She snuggles into the crook of my neck and sighs.

"Just stupid things. Y'know, kittens getting eaten by Jon. Me getting eaten by Jon. Jon getting eaten by Jon. The list goes on and on." She whispers, sounding truly frightened and I have to bite my lip and inhale a deep breath to keep myself from bursting out laughing. _What the- … Why is she dreaming about Jon consuming things?_

"O-okay…" I trail off as my chest vibrates with silent laughter that I just can't seem to hold back. Clary lifts her head up slightly from my chest and glares at me, though amusement hints in her deep-green eyes.

"It's not funny, Mr. I-had-nightmares-about-carnivorous-ducks-until-last-year!" she snaps, trying and failing to scowl up at me as I burst out laughing. After my mind registers what she said though, all amusement leaves my system and I stare down at her with wide eyes.

"That's not even _remotely_ funny, Clare. They ate _each other_!" I exclaim quietly, my eyes going cloudy with memories of cannibalistic birds. I shudder and pull her closer, pretending not to notice her soft giggling as I block out the horrible images of the beasts of the yellow and feathered.

Eventually, we settle down and find ourselves drifting off into a peaceful sleep; both completely content with being in each other's arms.

* * *

><p>Sometime later, I am being shaken awake and out of my serene rest. I blink my eyes groggily open and come face to face with dark-blue eyes and black hair. <em>Alec,<em> my mind registers immediately. I glance down to my chest, where a slight weight is laid, and smile softly at Clary's sleeping form, before moving my gaze back up to Alec. I mouth '_What?_' up to him through a yawn, not wanting to wake Clary up.

"Kaelie's on the phone. Apparently, it's 'urgent'. Whatever that means…" he whispers, mumbling the last part to himself and nodding towards the door. I bite my lip and look back down at Clary's peaceful face reluctantly, before sighing and gently laying her down onto my pillows as I get up from the bed. Alec starts towards the door, leaving me to follow after him tiredly. As I go, I glance out of my window and notice that the sun is just starting to set. _So it's around 4:00 or 5:00…_

I stretch my hands up above my head as I walk down the hall and towards the kitchen, still following Alec. When I enter, he pushes the phone into my hand and exits the room grumpily. _He needs to get laid…_ I look down at the phone, and then after a moment of debating whether or not I should answer it, I sigh and lift the device up to my ear. The phone is Maryse's antique landline, so I hand to move the cord around a couple of times so that it doesn't try to kill me while I'm talking.

"Hello." I state plainly, after I have delayed the inevitable long enough by screwing around with the phone-cord. A high-pitched screech sounds in the background, causing me to move the pone away from my ear with a wince, before Kaelie's annoying voice sounds through the relatively small device. _Has she always been this annoying, or is it just me…_

"Jacey! I've missed you!" she exclaims, causing me to grimace and clear my throat before speaking.

"Yeah me too, Kay…" I trail off, hoping that she'll start talking. When she doesn't, I sigh and lean against the counter with my head tilted back in agitation. "So, you called…" I trail off again, practically telling her to speak now or I'm going to hang up. She seems to get the point, because she giggles and another screech blares into my ears from the background.

"Sorry, that's just Aline. Shut up. I'm on the phone with Jacey, Ali!" her voice fades slightly, as if she's moved away from the phone and is talking to someone else while still talking to me. _Since when did she start calling me 'Jacey'? That's almost worse than 'Jay'. Almost… _I roll my eyes as she continues to talk to 'Ali', whoever that is. _Wait, doesn't Seb have a cousin named 'Aline'-_

"You're taking me out on a date at 7:00. Dinner and a movie. Yay! See you in a couple of hours, Jacey!" Kaelie tells me, successfully bringing my out of my thoughts. I open my mouth to protest that I have plans tonight, _hopefully with Clary,_ but don't get the chance. The dial tone beeps at me and I am just left there to stare dumbly down at the phone in my hand. _But I don't want to go on a date with you tonight…_

With a sigh and a silent curse, I slam the phone down onto the jack and start towards my room. Maybe spending a couple of hours with Clary will help calm my temper down, just so that I don't explode later tonight and get my shirt ruined with mascara. _That stuff's disgusting with a capitol 'D'._

When I'm about to open the door to my room, I see Alec coming out of his in my peripheral and turn around to face him. He looks at me curiously and raises an eyebrow, leaning casually against the doorframe of his door. I bite my lip and blow out a frustrated breath, before thrusting a hand into my hair and deciding to just get it over with.

"Do you think that I could borrow your car later? Kaelie just informed me that we're going on a 'date' at 7:00." I manage to spit out, sounding less than enthused about our 'date'. He stares at me for a moment, before breathing out a disbelieving chuckle as he shakes his head at me.

"You're still with that skan- I mean, '_lovely lady'_? Damn, I really thought you and Clary were a thing-" he cuts himself off, noticing my glare, and clears his throat before continuing. "But yeah. Yeah you can use my car. I don't have a social-life anyways…" he mumbles the last part under his breath, disappearing into his room briefly to retrieve his keys. He tosses them to me when he reappears and I catch them easily. "Just don't scratch her. She's my child." He warns me teasingly, before walking in the direction of the kitchen and whistling the 'Tate Langdon whistling song' under his breath as he goes. _That kid really needs to get laid… but good song either way…_

"Thanks, wonderful brother!" I call after him, hearing his amused chuckle as I enter my room and close the door quietly.

I turn towards my bed and smile at the sight in front of me. Clary is curled up into a ball on top of my comforter and has her hair covering her entire face. I chuckle quietly and make my way over to the bed, sinking down onto the vacant side of it when I get there. I brush the strands of hair off of her face lightly and smile gently down at her when she starts to stir. Her eyes flutter open and she stretches like a kitten as she sits up in my bed.

"Morning." She states, voice groggy and eyes slightly glassy from yawning. I shake my head slightly at her and point to the alarm-clock that sits on my bedside-table.

"More like 'Goodnight'. It's 5:00 at night, Clare." I tell her amusedly, causing her eyes to grow wide. She leaps off of the bed, suddenly wide awake, and starts towards the balcony.

"Shit! I have to go!" she exclaims, pulling open the doors and turning back to me with a smile. "Dad promised pizza tonight." She tells me, excitement clearly visible in her eyes. I furrow my brows at her and stand from the bed, tilting my head to the side in confusion.

"Why does that mean you have to leave, again?" I ask, gazing at her thoughtfully. She grins and shrugs.

"It doesn't, really. I just like hiding Jon's box before he gets any." She tells me. I laugh under my breath and shake my head at her in amusement. _I should've known._

You see, Jon and Clary each get their own boxes of pizza whenever their family has pizza. Apparently, they got into a full-on war once because of the last piece of pizza and practically ruined their mom's dishes, so now their parents just buy them each their own box. All's good now, especially for me. Usually, Clary can't eat her entire box, so I end up helping her. _Out of the kindness of my heart, of course. _

"Well, have fun with that. Bye." I say, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice as I say it. _Now I'll have to suffer through Kaelie's endless chatter by myself; all because my best-friend will be indulged in another man. A man named Stuffed–Crust. Damn him._

"I can come over later and we can have a _Saw_ marathon." Clary suggests, noticing my disappointment despite my efforts to keep it concealed. I'll never be able to hide anything from her. _Never have, never will._ I almost nod vigorously, but then I remember my 'date'. I sigh and smile sadly down at her.

"It would have to be really late. I have a 'date' at 7:00." I tell her, feeling satisfaction bubble up within me when her eyes show disappointment. She bites her lip in thought, and then, after a moment, her eyes brighten up again and she smiles up at me widely.

"Okay. I'll come over after your date and we can have a marathon." She says, causing me to smile down at her from the contagiousness of her smile. "But wait. There's more." She starts after a slight pause, resembling a sale's rep. "I'll text you during your 'date' and keep you entertained. I know that you secretly hate almost everything that your girlfriend spews out of her pie-hole." A devilish glint is in her eyes as she says this, and I can't help but laugh at her childlike excitement about texting me during my date. _She looks like she's going to enjoy this more than I'll ever know…_

I shrug and nod.

"Okay. Whatever you want, Clare." And with that and one final goodbye, she disappears through the balcony and most likely sprints towards her pizza. _And Clary doesn't do running. Like, ever._ I chuckle again and flop onto my bed, face up. _This'll be interesting…_

* * *

><p><strong>Hi, guys! There you go. Enjoy! <strong>

**Cassandra Clare owns all, except for my stuff. :D**

**I love the Tate Langdon whistling song! I don't actually know what it's called, so… yeah.**

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	12. Chapter 12

_Jace POV_

The restaurant was very expensive-looking. I had to bite back a wince when Kaelie announced that we would be going here for our supposed 'date' and had to focus on driving the car without crashing it. _Alec will kill me if I harm his precious 'Baby'._ Kaelie is seated in next to me in Alec's SUV, a small mirror in hand and a tube of sticky-looking lip-gloss in the other. I keep glancing over at her and swallowing as I maneuver the car through traffic. _Why is she dressed like that? Are we going to an underground strip-club instead of the movies after dinner, or what?_

Her hair is pulled up onto the top of her head, too tightly is you ask me, and her dress is practically nonexistent. Her face is caked on with orangey foundation, her eyelashes sticking out several inches away from her face, and her nails are shaped like talons. I'm not usually one to be nervous around girls, especially hot ones, but Kaelie looks as if she's debating whether or not to claw my throat out with her demonic nails.

I am 'dressed to the nines', if that's what you want to call it. _Not by choice, of course._

Kaelie texted me, not called, right before I was about to head out of the door to go pick her up and 'informed' me that I would be wearing my tux tonight. I tried to argue with her about not wanting to 'get it dirty', or something lame like that, but she just told me to 'hurry my ass up or we'll be late' and hung up on me. Least to say, I called Clary and tried to make her call in sick for me. Sadly for me though, she just laughed at me through the phone, came into my room across the balcony, and then proceeded to dig around in my closet until she found my tux. She had thrown it at me with an innocent smile and had said, and I quote, 'Time to put your big-boy panties on_, Jacey. Kay's _waiting for ya_.'_

I had cursed at her and at myself as I pulled on the tux, seriously regretting sharing me and Kaelie's nicknames for one another. Only after I had gotten completely dressed and was starting for the front door, did I realize what she had said.

"I am a man, and men don't wear _panties!_ We wear boxers or nothing at all." She had just laughed at me as I slammed the front-door shut and headed towards the elevators; her musical giggles following me down the hallway.

Currently, I am sitting in a fancy chair, at a fancy table, with my fancy tux nearly suffocating me to death as I listen to Kaelie ramble on and on about some new handbag that I 'should buy her as a gift'. _Yeah… Not happening. _We are sat at a small table in the back of the restaurant, right by the kitchen's entrance. I have my head rested on my palm, my elbow planted rudely on top of the table, and my eyes are threatening to slip shut from boredom.

"-and she said, 'I don't know what you're talking about! This bag is entirely authentic!'." Kaelie finishes off her story, a high-pitched fit of laughter following right after. I chuckle half-heartedly and glance around the restaurant again, wishing that our 'date' would end already so that I can get back to Clary and have a _Saw _marathon. _Do you want to play a game? Hell yes!_

"That's great, Kay." I state, having to force myself to not grimace when I say her nickname. She glares at me, her bright-blue eyes angry daggers, and leans back into her chair in a pout. Her thin, almost chicken-like, arms wind themselves together in front of her chest, pushing her chest farther out of the small dress than it already was, and she smacks her lips together in irritation.

"You know, you could at least try to be interested, Jacey. We are, after all, on a _date_. You," she pauses to point a talon-like nail at me. "and me. The perfect couple." Her eyes become lighter and she smiles slickly over at me. "So, stop being a_ bitch_ and appreciate all that I've done for you." She finishes, her smile turning my stomach and ruining any chances of an appetite that I had left. _Bitch?! Who you calling 'bitch', Bitch._ I clench my jaw, my patience seriously beginning to run out, and sit back in my seat, suddenly feeling the extreme urge to be as far away from her as possible.

"And," I cough slightly and adjust my position, choosing my words carefully since I want to survive the night. "why, exactly, would you say that we're '_the perfect couple'_?" I make sure to put extra emphasis on the last part, not even trying to hide my sarcasm. She doesn't seem to notice though, and just relaxes in her seat with her eyes glittering.

"Oh, silly!" she exclaims loudly, causing me to wince and several of the other table's inhabitants to turn towards us with questioning glances. "We're like that song; the one by _Par Amore_. '_Some things just, some things just make sense; and one of those is you and I'._" she sings, her voice screechy and completely off pitch. Some people from the other tables 'shush' us and I sink down further in my chair, wishing to sink into the floorboards.

"Kay. _Kay_." I say exasperatedly as she continues to sing the damned song. "_Kaelie_! Would you please lower your voice? People are starting to stare." I tell her urgently, but still am sure to keep my voice relatively quiet. She finally stops, _thank Jesus,_ and widens her eyes at me innocently.

"Sorry, Jacey." She giggles out, lifting up her glass and taking a sip of the deep-red liquid. I watch with thinly veiled disgust as she gulps down almost the entire glassful.

Did I mention that Kaelie supposedly 'knows' one of the head-chefs? Well, she does and he let her get an entire bottle of wine without being carded when we ordered our drinks. I turned it down, with being the one driving and all, but she just keeps pouring herself glass after glass.

I sigh and look around the restaurant, taking in the various strings of Christmas-lights that are strung across the ceiling. The waitresses run amuck through the scattered tables, talking and writing orders down onto notepads. I sigh and rest my head against the back of my chair, my entire body slouched unmannerly.

"So," I start, causing Kaelie to set down her glass and look up at me expectantly. "Was there a specific reason that you wanted to go out tonight, or did you just want to go out…" I trail off, now becoming the one who's expectant. She giggles, _more like cackles like a fucking witch,_ and wave her hand towards me like an old-lady.

"Oh,_ you_. Can't a girl take her man out for a bite to eat?" she says flattered, her question not really coming out as a question.

"Um… Sure?" I inquire unsurely. She just giggles again and leans over the table, practically flashing me when her dress pulls down as she does.

"Yes! So, how's the band going?" she asks, running her finger around the rim of her now-empty glass. I sit up a little straighter and manage a semi-real grin.

"Oh, yeah. The band. It's going great, actually. We won a contest last week and Clary got some important talent-scout's name." I tell her, starting to gain interest in the conversation. I vaguely take notice of the slight hardening of her eyes when I mention Clary's name, but decide to just ignore it for the time being.

"_Great_." She hisses; a plastic smile spread across her face. "I actually heard about your contest through Ali. She said that there was a video and told me to check it out- Well, anyways. I checked out the video, and it turns out, that you guys are actually _good_. Like, _really _good. The video had-" she rambles on, but I just stare at her in confusion.

"W-what… What video?" I furrow my brows at her across the table. She looks genuinely surprised as she sits pin-straight up in her chair and gapes at me open-mouthed.

"'_What video?'_ It's, like, a really big deal, Jacey. It's one of the most viewed videos on YouTube." She explains, as if the answer should be obvious. I only shake my head at her in response and run a hand through my hair.

"Oh, come on! Your face is all over the internet and you don't know about it?!" she asks incredulously. I inhale a deep breath and shake my head again.

"No… When did this happen again?" I stare at her curiously, my attention now focused entirely on her.

"I'm not really sure… I can show you, though! I reposted it on my wall…" she starts fishing around in her purse, the sound of lip-gloss tubes and coins rattling around in my ears. "Aha! Here we go!" she passes her phone over to me across the table after typing something into the screen and watches my face eagerly, waiting for my reaction. I glance down at the phone and see a video playing, the volume on the lowest setting.

"_Hey, we're 'The Fallen' and this is our version of Never Too Late by Three Days Grace."_

I blink in confusion, wondering how my voice said that without my own mouth knowing it, and stare at the screen of Kaelie's phone harder. There, right on the screen, is me. Well, me and the guys. The stage at Pandemonium is slightly blurry on the screen and I only have a brief moment to glance up at Kaelie's face, before Jon's guitar sounds from the small device. I watch, interested, as digital-me starts signing and walking around the stage. _Who is that handsome devil? I would tap that. Y'know… if that was possible…_

"What…" I trail off as the crowd starts singing along with me, which was unknown to me until tonight. I am vaguely aware of Kaelie's eyes burning holes into me, but I keep my attention of the small screen.

"You guys have, like, an actual fan-base now. And to think that I thought you sucked two weeks ago." she mumbles to herself, but I still hear her and tear my eyes away from the screen at her last comment.

"You thought we sucked? Why?" I question her, forcing my tone to stay nonchalant and to not grow defensive.

"I don't really like your emo songs, so…" she tells me, her smile sweet and innocent. I clench my jaw, again, and lean back in my chair, pushing her phone back over to her.

"Huh. Good to know." I murmur to myself. _You won't get up and leave your girlfriend in the restaurant. You won't make her cry and then give her reason to guilt-trip you into buying her expensive things. You like your wallet. You do._ "And by the way, it's_ punk-rock. _Not_ emo_." I tell her, taking deep breath and looking around the restaurant again. _Where the hell is our food? We've been here for an hour and I really want to leave_.

"Whatever." Is her reply, before she picks up her phone and starts doing something on it. I sigh and lean my head back, closing my eyes and willing the night to just end. _Can't we just leave and go to the movies so that I can text Clare already?_

You see, Clary made me promise to not text her while me and Kaelie were at dinner. She said something about it being rude and that Kaelie would blame her if we got caught. I didn't really see it that way, but still agreed to her conditions.

"Sir?" A deep voice says right at my elbow. I glance up in surprise, taking in the kind face of the waiter to my left.

"Yeah?" I raise an eyebrow at him in question.

"Your food, Sir." And with that, I glance down at the plate of pasta in his hands. I sit up straight and nod, shaking away all of my thoughts as he sets the plate down in front of me.

"Oh, yeah. That…" I mumble to myself, slightly moving my gaze up to meet Kaelie's. She, unsurprisingly, isn't even looking at me. Instead, she's still typing away on her phone and has a side-salad in front of her. _What a waste of money._

With a shake of my head, I pick up my fork and start eating, remembering just how hungry I am. _Finally! Food!_

* * *

><p>The theater's lights dim, letting us know that the movie is starting, and I rest my head back against the seat in preparation. For some reason, I am suddenly really tired. I was kind of tired at dinner, but now I just feel like the dead walking. Kaelie is in the bathroom, where she has been most likely fixing her make-up for the past thirty minutes, so I don't really see any reason to not 'rest my eyes'.<p>

Just as I'm about to drift off, my phone buzzes in my pocket. I open my eyes with a groan and fish it out, dreading that it'll be Kaelie and that she wants to do something else. To my surprise, pleasant surprise, the screen reads: 1 new message from Clare.

'_**How's skankzilla?'**_

I roll my eyes and chuckle quietly, as to not disrupt the people around me from the movie. Clary's probably the only person in the entire world that I allow to call my girlfriend a skank. _Even if I secretly think that she is one…_

'**I wouldn't know. She's been in the bathroom ever since we got here. I'm starting to think that she fell in.'**

The reply comes almost immediately.

'_**That must suck. For you, I mean. Not me. I'm still eating pizza. It's really good. :D'**_

I bite my lip and shake my head down at my phone. I can just imagine the cunning little smile that's most likely on her face at the moment. After a moment of thought, I decide to entertain myself. Simply because I'm bored and the movie is a chick-flick. _As per Kaelie's request, of course. Because everything is about her, isn't it. _

'**I bet it is good. It's probably thinking the same thing about you, Clare. You naughty, naughty lynx.'**

Yes. I know that that has absolutely nothing to do with what she just said, but just wat for her response-

_Buzz. Buzz. _

I am interrupted by my phone buzzing again. I smirk and laugh under my breath at her reply.

'_**I'm slightly confused about your implications. Please make yourself more clear.' **_

'**Oh, you know. Just that the pizza thinks you're as good as he is. At whatever you two are doing. And, that is, if the pizza is, in fact, a 'he'.'**

I can just see her face right now; flushed cheeks, hiding behind her hair. What I wouldn't give to see her face right about now…

The seat next to me folds down and someone sits in it, so I look over at it. Kaelie smiles at me, her makeup now even more caked on than before, and takes my hand that isn't holding my phone in hers. She laces her fingers through mine, her sharp nails scraping the back of my palm, and leans her head on my shoulder. I discretely slide my phone back into my pocket and look towards where the movie is playing, my only thoughts about how wrong her hand feels in mine. _Has it always been this way? And if so, why have I let this poor excuse for a relationship continue? _

"How's the movie?" she whispers, scooting closer to my side than she already is. I force myself to stay right where I am and to not move away, before smiling falsely at her in the darkness and nodding slightly.

"Great." I mutter, my tone sarcastic but she doesn't seem to notice by the way that she snuggles into my side even more. _She isn't the right person… she doesn't feel right…right like Clary… _

"Hmmm." She hums, before turning her gaze on the giant projector-screen too.

About an hour into the movie, my phone buzzes again. Kaelie is still leaning against my arm, so I quietly tell her that I'm going to go to the restroom. She nods and moves so that I can get out of the row of seats, not really even paying attention to me as she watches the movie. I hurriedly make my way to the door and pull my phone out, already knowing that it's Clary who texted me.

When I finally get outside of the theatre, I unlock my phone and open the new text.

'_**I am done with this conversation. So… what are you doing now?'**_

I shake my head and lean against the side of the building, the night air blowing my hair into my eyes. I run a hand through my hair, slightly annoyed that it's in my eyes, before I type my reply.

'**Standing outside of the theatre and watching small children cross the street.'**

'**With sunglasses on.' **

'**At night.'**

'**Just so you know.'**

I send her multiple messages, hoping that it makes her laugh. Now, is that true? That I'm wearing sunglasses at night and watching small children like a pedophile? No. Am I standing outside of the theatre? Yes, so I figure that it's worth it.

A couple of minutes later, as I stare around me and pull my jacket closer to my form, my phone buzzes; alerting me that Clary has texted me back.

'_**That's… extremely creepy. Like, seriously, Jace? Wow… I have weird friends…'**_

I chuckle and grin slightly down at my screen.

'**You got that right.'**

I type in the sentence, but right as I'm about to press 'SEND', flashes of light surround me and blind me momentarily. I blink harshly and throw an arm over my eyes, trying to block out the bright flashes of light. I fumble with my phone and tuck it back into my pocket, standing up to my full height and squinting from behind my shielding arm to see exactly _what_ the lights are coming from.

"Jace!"

"Jace, what made you want to form the band?"

"Who's the brains behind the title?"

"How long has '_The Fallen'_ been together?"

The questions just keep coming, the flashes of light along with the rapid sound of clicking giving me a headache. I slowly lower my hand from my eyes and take in the sight in front of me, my eyes widening and all of the color draining from my face.

Cameras.

Tons of cameras.

People holding cameras and getting all up in my personal bubble.

It's almost too much for me, but I force a smirk and raise an eyebrow at the relatively large crowd in front of me. Maybe fifteen, twenty, forms are stood in front of me; every single one of them holding a camera. I stare at them in shock for a moment, before recovering and flickering my eyes from to crowd to the door of the theatre. _What the absolute hell is going on?_

"Uh, hi?" I say, although it comes out as more of a question. A lady at the front of the group, who is wearing _way_ too much lipstick, thrusts a camera into my face eagerly.

"Jace. When did you and the rest of the band decide to form a band? Who chooses your music choices? When will _The Fallen _next be performing?" she asks me, her voice sounding extremely like an interviewer. I furrow my brows and step away from her, holding my hands up in an 'I surrender' sign.

"I'm sorry… but what?" I bite my lip nervously and look around me, slightly starting to panic. _What the fuck's going on-_

"Jacey!" a familiar squeal sounds from my left, causing me to swing around and come face to face with Kaelie. She looks excited, if not slightly expectant as her eyes slide right past me to the camera-people. "I see you've found the paparazzi." She tells me without even sparing me a glance; grabbing ahold of my arm and dragging me back over to the 'paparazzi'.

"What's going on, Kaelie?" I demand, my voice hard and my eyes cold. Her eyes flicker up to meet mine briefly, before she barks out a laugh and shakes her head at me; as if I'm a toddler who has just done something extremely cute. _Bitch._

"Oh, Jacey. I called them. They're going to make you _famous._ And after your band goes viral, or whatever, we'll be the hottest couple in America! I can already see it now! It'll be amazing!" she shrieks annoyingly, causing me to wince and glare at her angrily.

"Why would you do that?! I thought that we were on a date!" I hiss; my voice low enough so that the crowd in front of us won't hear. Her eyes widen fractionally and she giggles, resembling a maniac slightly.

"You're too funny, darling. We haven't been on a date in, what? A month? Two? Please. Why do you think I wanted to go out tonight? Just to enjoy your 'company'? No." Her eyes narrow themselves into condescending slits and she eyes me coyly, self-satisfaction practically radiating from her. When she smiles slickly up at me, I can't help but grimace in disgust at the sight of lipstick on her teeth. _Ew. I think I'm gonna throw-up._ "Now, let's go get our faces on the cover of a magazine!" she says, more like orders, me. I just shake my head and chuckle humorlessly under my breath.

"No. Hell no. I'm not doing this shit. Especially not with you, of all people." And with that, I turn around and start down the sidewalk. My feet move quickly, needing to escape the sound of confused murmurs behind me and camera clicks. Behind me I hear an outraged cry and heels clacking on the concrete behind me, but I just keep making my way towards Alec's SUV.

"Jacey! How am I going to get home?! You're my ride!" Kaelie screams after me, her voice portraying her anger. She sounds downright furious, but I just keep moving.

"Take the subway. Get a taxi. Call 'Ali'. Just don't call me again, Kaelie. I mean it. We're done." I call back to her, before I reach the SUV and unlock it. She shrieks loudly behind me and I catch a glimpse of her throwing her purse onto the ground in the rearview-mirror, before I jump into the car and slam the door shut. I back the car out of the slot and take off, forcing myself to not speed as I drive towards The Institute.

I bite my lip and shake my head, wondering how this night could've gotten so messed up. _Clary will make you feel better. Just get to Clare,_ I tell myself as stop the SUV at a stoplight. _Just get to Clare…_

* * *

><p>"That <em>bitch<em>! I can't believe her! I'll smash her skull in with her own heels, you just wait." Clay rants, pacing back and forth in front of her bed. I watch with a tired smile as she picks up one of her old teddy-bears and throws it across the room. It doesn't do much damage, with her strength levels being at a solid negative-five, but I still appreciate the effort.

When I had finally gotten back to The Institute, I headed straight up to Clary's apartment. Her parents were watching TV in the living-room when I burst in through their door, slightly panting, and just pointed towards the hallway that leads to her room. I have my own key and they're pretty used to me barging in on them regularly, so this wasn't anything out of the usual.

Clary had been lying on her bed, headphones in her ears and her phone lying right next to her as a movie played on her laptop. She had yanked out one of the earbuds and watched me curiously as I collapsed face-first next to her on her bed, sighing out in exhaustion as I buried my face into her comforter. She had gently ran her fingers through my hair, calming me instantaneously, and asked quietly what was wrong. I told her, after rolling over onto my stomach and watching the rest of the movie with her, every little detail about tonight, and her eyes were swimming with angry clouds by the time I was done.

Now, she is still pacing back and forth as she rants out her anger at Kaelie to me. Not surprisingly, her various death-threats have calmed my unmanly emotions down to a minimum and she has even managed to make me laugh with her creative torture techniques. _Like, who knew that my little redhead would be so violent? Never mind. I did. And do. And will for the foreseeable future. She punches hard for such a small person…_

"Just forget about her, Clare. I broke it off with her anyways, so…" I trail off as Clary's eyes take on a happy expression, my heart thudding painfully loud in my chest at the slight hopeful look in the depths of her emeralds.

"Really?! I mean, yeah. That's too bad." She says, sarcasm dripping from her tone heavily. I chuckle and shake my head at her, patting the bed for her to join me. She does without protest and rests her head on my shoulder when she is by my side. I wrap an arm around her shoulders and bring her closer to me, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as I go.

"I bet that just breaks your heart." I tell her dryly, feeling her unabashed giggle through my side as she laughs. "Back to the topic, we're done. That feels odd to say out loud." I state, laying my head on top of hers. She shrugs and leans back, pulling me with her so that we're both leaning against her headboard.

"Does it break yours? Your heart, I mean." She asks quietly, her voice slightly vulnerable but mostly curious. I shake my head slightly on top of hers and sigh.

"If I said that I feel mostly relieved, would that make me an asshole?" I question her, feeling extremely douche-baggy for saying that.

The sad part of it all is that it's one-hundred percent true. I don't feel any remorse for ending me and Kaelie's relationship, if you could call it that. I feel slightly hurt that she would try to use me for a little fame, but overall I feel pretty good. Maybe a bit hungry, but good. _I'm always hungry though, so…_

"No. She's a bitch and you're too good for her. I've been telling you this ever since you met the whore, but you chose to listen to your 'heart', or whatever." She mumbles the last part under her breath, snuggling closer into my side. The movie from earlier, which happened to be _Land of the Lost,_ was switched out about an hour ago for the first of the _Saw _films.

"Yeah, well… what's done is done. Let's watch the movie and deal with all of this shit tomorrow. I need to watch helpless citizens get brutally murdered and let my mind relax for a while. Okay?" I tell her, sitting up slightly and looking down at her face as she nods and smiles.

"Alright. Are you hungry? I'm hungry and I have most of my pizza left. It's in the fridge…" she stands up from the bed and starts towards the doors, throwing me an expectant glance when she opens the door. I nod and grin, satisfied with her answer.

"Sure. I could eat." I tell her nonchalantly, but I can tell that she sees through my bullshit by the loud laugh that she barks out as she wanders down the hallway towards the kitchen.

"Sure, Jace. Whatever you say." Is her teasing reply, causing a wide smile to split my face. _She knows me too well._

I lean back against the headboard and close my eyes, my smile turning to a soft grin and I exhale and allow my body to finally relax. _See? Clare made you feel better. All you needed was Clare…_

* * *

><p><strong>Hi! I have one thing to say first:<strong>

**100+ FOLLOWERS! OMG I'M GIVING YOU ALL VIRTUAL HUGS, COOKIES, AND PEGACORNS. YOU'RE WELCOME! **

**Okay, I'm done now. :D Thank you all for being awesome. Simply put.**

**Cassandra Clare owns all, except for my stuff. :)**

**Stuff from chapter:**

_**Still Into You- Paramore (Kaelie just pronounces their name like a bitch. ;D)**_

_**Land of the Lost- 2009 (Will Ferrel is amazing!)**_

**Thanks for reviewing and telling me your thoughts. I am going to try to start replying to your review through PM-ing. Yay!**

**Review&Follow**


	13. Chapter 13

_Clary POV_

My shoes slap against the waxed tiles of the hallway as I make my way to English class. Jace is walking right next to me, his arm slung over my shoulders and a shit-eating grin plastered to his smug face as he 'sneakily' slips my hair-tie off of my braid. I just ignore him and shake my head to myself, continuing down the hall. I sigh as my hair cascades down around my shoulder, having been pulled into a side-braid this morning, and fix an amused glare up at Jace's face.

"Would you knock it off? Please?" I inquire up at him, trying to make my voice sound as if I'm extremely annoyed at him and his antics. His head tilts down towards me and his grin disappears, leaving a mock-concerned expression on his face.

Truth is, I couldn't care less about whether or not if he messes with my hair. I'm so used to it, because he takes my hair out of its braid or ponytail daily, that I don't even blink when I see his large hands sneak up to my hair.

"What are you talking about? I'm not doing anything, Clare. You must be hallucinating." He tells me seriously, though his lip twitches slightly at the corner with a smirk. I sigh, for probably the millionth time since Jace came into my room this morning, and giggle slightly when I feel his fingers weaving themselves into my now-loose hair.

"Having fun?" I say more than question as we near Mr. Wayland's classroom. Out of my peripheral, I see him nod and his grin returns.

"Yes. Very much so." Is his statement, before he finishes untangling my once-braided hair and drops his arm from around my shoulders to open the door to the classroom. I smile to myself when I catch sight of my bag around his shoulder along with his and follow him into the room when the door is open. He had insisted that he carry my bag for me this morning, something he rarely does unless he is in an extremely good mood, and I was too surprised to tell him 'no'.

In fact, Jace has been in a very good mood ever since Saturday night after his 'date' with Kaelie. He was kind of sad when he first came into my room as I was watching a movie, but his eyes shone wit relief. He even said that he was relieved himself, so I have nothing to say about how he should feel _something_ bad after breaking up with his so-called 'girlfriend'. She was, and still is, a bitch. Simply put.

He seems a lot happier now that he's a 'free man', so I figure that it's best to just leave him be and see where he goes next. And I would be lying if I said that I wasn't slightly overjoyed to hear that Kaelie's out of the picture now. _Like I have said many times before, she's a bitch._

We start to make our way over to our seats, Jace in front of me, but he gets stopped a few desks away from our table. I have to catch myself before I run into his back and try to look over his shoulder. I end up just looking around his side with an exasperated sigh, simply because I'm not tall enough to look over his shoulder. _Damn my height._

"So, I heard that you're in a band. That's, like, _really_ hot." A low voice says, causing my attention to snap over to the form that has stopped Jace from continuing to our seats. A girl, someone who has probably been in the same grade as me since grade-school, is standing extremely close to Jace and has one of her hands planted on said person's chest. She has green eyes, _dull in comparison to mine thankfully_, and light-blond hair. She slightly reminds me of Kaelie, and for that exact reason, I decide to get out of here quickly.

I squeeze myself in between Jace and the table that id right next to him and slide around him, for once thankful of my tiny size as I exit the soon-to-be flirtastrophe. _Get it? Flirtastrophe? Like catastrophe, except with flirting- Oh, just forget it._ I grab my bag from his shoulder, where it is hanging loosely off of his lean figure as he plasters a charming smile on his face and leans against a table as he talks to the girl. _Whom I can't seem to think of her name still, but anyway…_

I plop myself down into my chair and start taking out my notebook, watching as Jace nods along to something girl-with eyes-that-aren't-as-pretty-as-mine says with amusement. I shake my head and flip open the cover to my notebook, which has been doodled to death and covered with designs beyond recognition. I bring out a pen, one of the many that I have stuffed into my bag, and click it several times while I debate what to draw until class starts.

_Maybe a unicorn… No. Maybe a rose… No, too cliché. Maybe a giant knife stabbing the helpless blonde girl who is currently trying to flirt with your best-friend… Yes… No. Too possessive-_

"What are we drawing?" a smooth voice inquires my ear softly, causing me to just about jump out of my skin and turn around to face him. Jace chuckles when he sees my startled expression and heaves himself down into his seat next to me. "You okay? You're a little jumpy, there." He states amusedly, pressing a hand to my forehead as if to check my temperature. I scowl and push his hand away, sitting back in my seat stubbornly.

"I'm fine, Smartass. Where's the blond chick?" I ask, turning back to my notebook and starting to draw stick figures idly as I wait for him to answer. I hear him sigh and see him start to take out his books from his bag in my peripheral as I draw a figurine of a ninja. _I got ninja-combat-skills, bitches!_

"You mean Camille? She isn't even I this class. He's a senior and just had to drop off some papers for next period." He tells me, causing me to glance up from my paper briefly with a questioning look.

"Camille… Yeah, I _totally_ know who that is…" sarcasm drips from my tone, making Jace roll his eyes and nudge me slightly with his elbow as he leans back in his chair with a pen in between his teeth.

"I only know her from playing ball. She's on the cheerleading-squad. Team. Whatever you call it." he takes his pen out of his mouth and twirls it around his fingers, resembling Seb when he messes around with his drumsticks. I watch distractedly as he expertly continues to twirl the pen, almost as if in a trance of sorts.

"Yeah… Great…" I mumble softly, before seeming to snap out of my daze and flickering my eyes up to meet Jace's again. He is staring at me intently, his eyes slightly darker than before. _What's that about?_

"Are you in there? Clare?" he waves a hand in front of my face when I don't continue talking, an amused grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. I snap myself out of it and blink up at him innocently.

"Yes?" I smile crookedly and watch, interested, as he chuckles and runs a hand through his hair; the one that's not twirling the pen around.

"You okay?" he presses a hand to my forehead teasingly, causing me to slap it away and poke my tongue out at him as I roll my eyes.

"Fine. So, what are we doing after school?" I inquire, leaning back in my seat with satisfaction when his eyes brighten; having successfully changed the subject. Jace finally stops spinning his pen around and drops it down onto the table.

"Band practice at Seb's. We need to be prepared for that gig you got us on Friday night, remember?" he starts tapping an unknown beat on the table as he speaks and I can't help but think that something's causing him to be nervous.

"Yeah, I know. Um, what's up with you today?" I raise my eyebrows up at him, causing him to drop a smile my way and shrug nonchalantly.

"There's nothing 'up with me' today. I'm just in a good mood, I guess." is his response. I nod, totally not believing him.

"Really? Because I could swear that we chose the wrong guys to be the drummer. I think that you should take Seb's place, what with the rate our going at right now." I state sarcastically. His brows furrow and he stares at me in confusion, still tapping the unknown beat on the table.

"Huh?" He quirks one of his eyebrows up and bites his lip, looking completely conflicted.

"You've been doing drummer moves ever since you sat down. Like, you did the whole 'Imma twirl my drumsticks around like a boss' thing with your pen, and now, you're tapping obsessively. You are acting like Seb did when he first started taking drumming lessons. Stop!" I explain, moving my hands to sit on top of his shoulders and shaking him harshly; which isn't much considering that I don't even reach said shoulders when I'm standing up at my full height. He chuckles and nods his consent.

"Alright, alright. Geez! You don't have to shake me to death!" he cries dramatically, his tone sarcastic and slightly condescending. I drop my hands from his shoulders and turn around to face the front of the room.

"Good. I guess that I'll see you at Seb's, then." And with that, I open up my textbook and start preparing for when Mr. Wayland finally decides to show up to class. I see Jace staring at me out of my peripheral, but keep my eyes trained down at my English-book.

"Wait- but we're in all of the same classes, Clare. You'll see me for the rest for the day, _until_ we go to Seb's!" he tells me, exasperation and amusement in his voice. I don't even spare him a glance and only look up from my book when the door to the classroom opens again and our teacher walks in.

"Clare-" Jace starts, but I just turn to him briefly and place a finger to my lips in the universal '_shhh'_ gesture.

"Hush, child. Class is starting." I whisper to him, having to bite my lip to keep a grin from breaking free when my eyes flicker up to his and take in their affronted expression.

"But- Clare- I'm not a child-" he starts to protest, only to be cut off by me again.

"Hush! Class is starting." I reprimand him mock-seriously and turn back to the front of the room, not able to fight off my smirk when I hear his groan of frustration. "Shhh!" I hiss at him through the corner of my mouth, thoroughly enjoying tormenting him.

"Whatever." He huffs, and then Mr. Wayland starts to call roll and begin class.

_You are one sly mother-fucker, Clary. Yes, you are…_

* * *

><p>I sink down into one of the large bean-bags in the control-room in Seb's garagerecording studio and sigh overdramatically. School was exhausting today and I have absolutely no patience for bullshit at the moment. _But really, who does?_

"Are you going to 'monitor' the soundboard during practice, Clary?" Seb's voice causes me to look up from where I am staring at the floor intently, wanting to know all of its secrets. _You shall tell me what you know, bloody floor!_

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Whatever you want…" I say, not really sure what exactly it is that he wants me to 'monitor'.

You see, I sit at the soundboard during all of the guys' practices and supposedly 'monitor' the large board for Seb. I basically do nothing, because he specifically told me not to touch anything on the soundboard, so I just end up sitting in one of the comfy chairs and listening to their music while playing games on my phone. _Mostly games about killing zombies, but whatever… I'm immature. Fuck being an adult. I'm only sixteen anyways… _

"Kay. We're gonna start now, so… Bye, I guess…" Seb says awkwardly, bringing me out of my thoughts as he retreats from the small room and closes the door behind him. I sigh again and watch the guys set up their instruments through the large, plexi-glass window that is in front of my face.

Jace is fiddling with his gold mic, smiling and laughing at something that Jon says as he slings his electric over his shoulder. I shake my head at the sight of Jace holding a golden mic. _Like, where in the hell does he even buy this shit?!_ I turn my eyes to the other guys and take in the other three forms of _The Fallen_. Jordan is idly strumming on his guitar, Alec is talking with Seb as he adjusts the strap on his bass, and Seb himself is doing that twirling-thing with his drumsticks that Jace was doing earlier. _Shall we call it the cosmic spin? Yes, I think we shall… Who's we?..._

I shake my head at myself, annoyed that I'm talking to myself _again_, and pick up the pair of large headphones that allow me to hear the guy's audio. Setting the things over my ears, I watch as Jon flips a switch on one of the large amps and starts to strum lightly. Sweet music fills my ears and I nod along as my brother starts to get a rhythm going.

Suddenly, he breaks off and stares at Seb as he says something. They both nod, and then Jon walks over to the mic that's set in front of Jordan.

"We're doing _Ghosts by Mayday Parade_, Clare. Enjoy, Little Sister." He tells me, grinning from ear to ear along with the rest of the guys. I nod and bite my lip to smother a giggle as he walks back over to where he was to get into his 'position' so that they can start practice. _Finally_. He nods to Jace, who smirks and brings his mic up to his lips, before nodding to Jordan.

Jace starts singing first with Jordan singing back-up, and then Seb starts to 'drop a beat', or whatever. Jace maintains eye-contact with me all the while that he's singing, and I can't help but feel entranced by his voice.

"_Now this ghost in my bedroom, it gives me advice. He promised one day that he'd teach me to fly. Now when I think that I'm alone, he comes up my way with a devil smile singing, 'This is now my home. You're my wish come true. When you reach that golden cloud, I'll be there with you."_ his smooth voice sings, a wide grin plastered onto his face as he watches me while he sings. I nod at him and smile, never taking my eyes off of his.

This has been happening, where Jace and I will end up just staring at each other for long periods of time, ever since he broke up with Kaelie. I don't really know what it is, maybe it's just the knowledge that he's not under her trap anymore, but it seems like he has been acting odd around me recently. Like, we'll just be watching a movie and he'll absently play with my fingers while we watch it. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's cute as hell and I have to stop myself from staring at his hands when they bend my smaller ones into little shapes, but he's never done this before. He would play with my hair, or draw designs on the back of my hand, but staring at me with dark-gold eyes and playing with my fingers is completely new territory for me.

I guess that I'm no better than him with the whole playing-with-fingers-thing. I have recently taken note of just how much larger his hands are than mine. We were sitting on Jace's bad and had one of the _Dawn of the Dead _movies playing in the background, and all of a sudden I had this extreme urge to look at his hands. He had one resting on my shoulder behind me and the other one was lazily laid across his abdomen, so I just reached over and brought his hand over to where I could look at it.

His fingers are huge, let me tell you. I always knew that he had big hands, but his hands are almost twice the size of mine. _Twice! _ I have also noticed how, whenever he looks at me, his eyes darken and become almost molten-gold in color. His eyes are just so intriguing.

"How was it?" Jace asks, bringing me out of my own head. I smile at him and nod, moving over slightly to the mic that's on the soundboard.

"Awesome! Are you guys doing that for the gig on Friday?" I ask curiously, taking in their joyous expressions as I do so. Jace shakes his head as Jon moves over to take the mic from his hands and places it at his lips.

"Nah. We have something better for the gig. This s just practice." He explains, sharing a secret smile with Jace as he speaks. I sit up straighter and gesture with my hand for him to 'continue', leaning over my mic.

"So… What song is it? Can I hear it?" I question eagerly, my eyes flickering back and forth between him and Jace expectantly. Jon just shrugs guiltily and shakes his head at me.

"Nope. Not gonna happen, Clary. It's a surprise." He practically sings, causing me to groan and protest stubbornly.

"No, Jon. You guys did that last time! You even locked me in the apartment with Max. _Max_, of all people!" I whine, slumping in my seat and watching Jace as he laughs and steals his mic back from my brother.

"Too bad, Clare. It'll be awesome. You just wait and see." He tells me optimistically, ever the charmer. I just huff and run a hand down my face heavily.

"Fine." I drag the word out and settle back into my chair, pouting slightly. Jace just chuckles, along with the rest of the guys, and grins at me through the window. "Are you going to stick Max on me as a guard-dog again? 'Cause that was _really_ annoying last time." I state, watching without amusement as they all laugh.

"Oh, Clare. It's like you know us too well for your own good." Jace says, placing a hand over his heart in mock-flatter. I scoff, roll my eyes, and shake my head at the still-laughing group of boys in front of me.

"Shut up. Let's just get this over with so that I can go home and eat. I'm starving." And at the mention of food, they all seem to get a determined look in their eyes and start discussing what song they'll do next.

With a tired sigh, I make myself comfortable and wait patiently for their practice to get over with. _Things are never good when I'm resigned to being patient…_

* * *

><p><strong>Okay… so… Hi. I'm sorry about the late update. I really have no explanation for myself… I was just reading, so… Yeah. Enjoy!<strong>

**I may be updating slightly sketchy for the month of December, just because of all of the things I have going on this month. I have my birthday, Christmas, first-semester finals, etc. **

**Cassandra Clare owns all, except for my stuff. :D**

**I have answers to your questions. :D**

**Firstly, some of you didn't know what a Pegacorn is. Well, a Pegacorn is the mixed love-child of a Pegasus and a Unicorn. Therefore, it is called a Pegacorn. **

**Secondly, one of you asked me about 'lemons'. I do not, and most likely never will, write lemons. I just don't. Sorry, guys. Things may get 'steamy' in later chapters, but I won't be writing lemons in any of my stories. Sorry, again. :]**

**I don't actually know if I have the right rating for my story though… I thought that it should be rated 'M' for language, but now I'm not so sure. Please tell me if I have the wrong rating. I'm slightly clueless. :/**

**Stuff from chapter:**

_**Ghosts- Mayday Parade (one of my favorite songs and bands :D)**_

_**Dawn of the Dead- 2004**_

**Okay, I think that's it… Thanks for reviewing and telling me your thoughts. :)**

**Review&Follow**

…


	14. Chapter 14

_Jace POV_

"And may I present to you, the winners of the Semi-Annual Undiscovered Rockers Competition, _The Fallen_!" Luke's voice rings in my ears as I watch from the sidelines of the stage, waiting for Jordan and the rest of the guys to go on the stage before I make my 'entrance'. Clary is stood beside me loyally, her shoulder brushing my arm and a protective glare set on her face in the direction of the large band of teenage-girls behind us.

Shall I explain? I think that I shall.

We are presently at Pandemonium, waiting for Luke to finish 'announcing' us, or whatever the hell his job is, so that the guys and I can finally get on the stage and get this thing over with. We have been here all night; well, since 7:45pm. _And it's almost 10:00pm right now!_ Clary is standing loyally by my side, one of her small hands wrapped around my wrist and a stubborn glare set on her face in the direction of the relatively large group of girls who are staring at me off to the side of where we're standing.

_I know right? When aren't girls staring at me, but this is really too much…_

Ever since we arrived at the club, girls from the other bands who are performing tonight have been swarming us like bees. They have been following us like hawks and prey- _not that the other guys seem to mind, but you know…_ Usually I wouldn't give a shit if girls were fawning over me, since they seem to do so daily, but today feels different. I have been thinking this over the entire night, and I think that I have finally come to a conclusion of as to why I don't want girls flirting with me tonight.

Clary's here.

I just don't really want other people flirting with me in front of her, for some reason. I feel like I'm betraying her or something like that. I just really, truly don't know.

As I scan the small crowd of girls behind me, I spot a head of black hair that makes my skin crawl. Her brown eyes glint dangerously and she smirks over at me, waving her fingers at me mockingly. Her skirt has ridden up to her thighs and her long, glossy hair is pulled up into a tight bun, making her appear as a clone of none other than my ex-girlfriend; Kaelie. _Y'know, if you subtract the color of her eyes and hair…_

Shuddering, I blow out a breath and shake my head, taking a step forward as I notice the rest of the guys make as to move on stage. Luke comes barreling through the small gap that is between the large curtain and the stage and grins, slapping me on the back good-naturedly as he does.

"Break a leg, Kid." He tells me, before wandering over to his seat on the side of the stage. I nod slightly and start making my way fully out onto the large flat-lay, glancing back behind me at Clary as I do so. She gives me an encouraging smile and nods her head in my direction, her bottom-lip drawn in between her teeth as she does. I grin back at her before swinging around to face the audience, shaking myself of the odd feeling I got when I saw her lips. _The hell-? Focus!_

"How are you all doing tonight? Good? Great! Well, as our buddy Luke said, we're _The Fallen_ and this is _Crooked Smiles by Framing Hanley!_" I exclaim, satisfied by the loud response I get from the crowd. I nod my head in Jon's direction and count down quietly, bringing my mic up to my lips in preparation for the oncoming song.

* * *

><p><em>One hour earlier…<em>

I look around me, taking note of the previous band finishing up their performance. Stage-lights and mediocrely sung song-lyrics blare around me, creating the aroma that only comes with being smack-dab in the middle of the mosh-pit. Yes, I am standing in the midst of the crowd in Pandemonium. _Sue me._

The guys and Clary are all standing around me, most likely taking in the competition that we will have to compete with tonight. I should probably be doing the same thing, but I just can't keep my focus off of the ceiling. I'm extremely bored. There, I said it.

The competition/gig started about fifteen minutes ago, and I already want to kill myself. _Yes, the music is that bad. _Naturally, I'm a cocky bastard, but I seriously think that we could destroy the competition tonight. Without even trying, might I add. My ears are literally bleeding, the current band sounds so bad.

Clary's arm brushes mine and I glance down at her, catching a glimpse of her bright smile through the flashes of light coming from the stage. I grin down at her, all other thoughts forgotten because of her smile, and lace our fingers together. She gives my hand a squeeze, causing me to give one in return, before turning back to face the stage.

Taking her actions as a sign, I turn my attention towards the stage too. I see the current band finish up their 'song', _thank god_, and watch with slight interest as Luke waltzes back up onto the stage with a mic in hand. Chuckling sheepishly into said mic, he waves the band, which has just finished performing, off of the stage and looks out into the large crowd.

"Well… that was… interesting." He states, wincing slightly as he speaks. "So, give it up for," he pauses to read something off of a clipboard in his hand that isn't holding his mic, "um, The Apple Crutches." He finishes, blinking up at the crowd and biting his lip as a few claps sound through the relatively quiet club. Scratching the back of his neck and wincing again, he carries on with his announcement. "Anyways, let's continue with tonight's competition, shall we? Please welcome with me, _The_ _Hallowed Grounds_!" and with that, the crowd erupts into applause as Luke makes his exit. Another band swarms onto the stage, taking their positions and plugging in their instruments.

I hear a soft gasp come from my elbow and divert my eyes to where the sound came from, seeing Clary's wide eyes and pale face when I do. She has her hand that isn't clasped in mine covering her mouth and is squeezing my hand in hers with a death-grip, causing me to look down at her with concern. I place my free hand on her cheek and turn her face towards me, so that her eyes meet mine.

"What's wrong, Clare?!" I ask urgently, not liking the dreadful look on her beautiful face. She shakes her head and flickers her eyes over to the stage once more, causing them to become even wider than they already are.

"_Simon_." She breathes quietly; almost too quiet for me to catch. Luckily though, I do and I furrow my brows in confusion immediately after.

"Rat-boy? What does he have to do with anything?" I inquire confusedly, raising an eyebrow down at her in question. She shakes her head more fiercely, causing my hand to fall from its place on her cheek, and removes her hand from her mouth to point in the direction of the stage.

"_Simon_! What is he doing up there? That's not his band!" she exclaims, causing me to look over at the stage in confusion. I open my mouth to ask what exactly she's talking about, but the words die on my lips as I look closer at the band who has just taken occupancy of the stage.

Standing there, right next to a girl with black hair and a skimpy outfit, is Rat-boy- I mean _Simon_. He has one of his normal nerdy T-shirts on, a black bass slung over his shoulders, and has his trademark glasses perched crookedly on the bridge of his nose, but there is something different about him. It's most likely the fact that there's a _hot chick_ standing not even ten feet away from him and she doesn't look like she's about to throw up. _What has the world come to? Rat resembling nerds standing by hot chicks? Ice-cream being served at a lukewarm temperature? _

"Si- What the- Huh?" I stutter out, my eyes growing wide and my entire being slacking with confusion. _Why the fuck is Lewis on the stage? Isn't there a law of some kind that prevents idiots like him to do that-?_

"_What _is he _doing_ up there? That's not even_ his_ _band_!" Clary says loudly, repeating her earlier statement, though her voice is drowned out by the volume of the crowd as they cheer for the band that is about to perform. I just shrug and stare dumbly at the stage, still not comprehending just what the hell Rat-boy is doing at one of our gigs.

He hasn't even come to any of our practices, and now he's _performing_ at one of our gigs? Like, what the hell? This is bullshit!

"Hey, guys. We're _The Hallowed Grounds_ and this is _Lonely Girl by Tonight Alive."_ The girl with black hair says into her mic, winking at some random dude up at the front of the crowd. Clary and I quiet down and watch as the drummer starts to beat off and as the rest of the people on the stage start to play their individual instruments. _Shit! They're actually good!_

I look closer at the girl and notice that she looks familiar. I curse under my breath when the realization hits me like a semi-truck and spin around to find Seb, spotting him not even five-feet behind me. I make my way over to his gawking form and stand by his side, nudging him with my elbow when he fails to notice my presence.

"Wha- huh?" he mumbles distractedly, his eyes wandering back to the stage after a brief glance in my direction. I sigh in frustration and grab his shoulders, turning him forcefully to face me.

"Dude! Why the hell is your cousin up there? You never told us that she was even in a band!" I exclaim, shaking him slightly to get my point across. He yanks himself out of my grasp and shrugs, an incredulous scowl plastered onto his face as he runs a hand through his dark hair.

"I have no fucking clue, Dude! _I_ didn't even know Aline was in a band! Let alone with Lewis!" he yells to me over the loud music coming from the stage. I turn my face up to the ceiling in despair and close my eyes tightly, continuing to do exactly that until I feel a soft, familiar hand on my forearm. Opening my eyes and turning my head down away from the light-littered ceiling, my eyes clash gold with green.

_Clare_, is my immediate thought.

"Do you guys know why Simon is playing the bass for Aline's band, who -might I mention- is your ex-girlfriend's 'BFF'?" she asks, throwing a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the stage casually. Seb and I both shrug down at her, identical expressions of bewilderment crossing our features.

"No clue, Clary. Your guess is as good as any of ours." Seb tells her, biting his lip and flickering his eyes from the stage back down to hers. I nod, but don't get to add my response before someone else joins our group. Namely, that person is Jon.

"Why is your idiot of a best-friend up on the stage, Clary? He's not even up there with his _own_ band! Explain. Now." He demands, an angry glare directed down at her. feeling slightly offended by his first implication and feeling the familiar urge to protect my Clare, I gently grab ahold of her shoulders and maneuver her body so that she's tucked into my side with my arms wrapped around her slight form protectively._ That's right. She's my Clare. Mine!_ She sighs and leans into my chest, causing a warm feeling to ignite in the pit of my stomach and blossom up through all of my veins.

"Hey, Asshole! Her best-friend is standing right here. I can't believe that you would even think of comparing me to that weasel!" I tell him, going on defense for my title of 'Clare's Best-Friend'. I feel her body shake against mine as she laughs and I duck my head down so that my chin is rested on top of her head.

"Okay, so now we're going to do _Come Home by Tonight Alive. _Enjoy!" Aline says into the mic, causing all of our attentions to go back to the stage momentarily.

I may have forgotten to mention that we have to perform two-to-three songs at tonight's competition/gig. So, if I did forget, we do.

After _The Hallowed Grounds_, or whatever the hell they call themselves, have started to play again, our group goes back into a huddle and we continue to discuss the situation. I take note that Alec and Jordan have joined our little group sometime while we were watching Aline and Simon's band, meaning that everyone important is here.

"-well that means that you guys will just have to do your best tonight and out-perform them! I called Raphael and he said that he would bring some guys that he knows, who are apparently 'important' in the music business, so you guys have that going for you. Raphael is coming to see you guys; not Aline's band. It's an easy fix, don't stress over it. Okay?" Clary is saying, causing me to tune back into the conversation. All of the guys nod, and I do too just to keep up appearances that I _was _actually listening to what Clary just said instead of staring off into space, and smile down warmly at the small red-head who is currently still tucked into my arms.

"Alright, Clary. Thanks." The guys all mumble out things similar to this while I just pick up a stray curl from Clare's shoulders and twirl it around my fingers, crimson tendrils winding around smoothly. I lean down so that my lips brush the shell of her ear, causing her to shiver to my satisfaction.

"I don't know what you just said, but thanks also, Clare." I whisper lowly into her ear, taking note smugly of the slight hitch that she gets in her breath as I do. She inhales a shaky breath, causing me to grin wickedly and nuzzle my nose into her hair, and clears her throat before responding.

"Y-you're welcome?" she squeaks out shakily, her statement coming out as a question. I chuckle lowly in her ear and make sure to run my lips over it slightly as I straighten up and turn her around to face me.

"Oh, Clare." I mumble under my breath as I take in her flushed cheeks, a devilish grin stretching my features wider. She shakes her head and blinks, as if coming out of a trance, before blowing out a slow, unsteady breath and glaring at my smug face.

"Douche-canoe." She mutters to herself, her dark-green eyes seeming to turn black under the flashing lights of the stage. I shake my head down at her in amusement as he turns back towards the stage and breathe out another chuckle.

_Teasing Clare's just too easy… and fun…_

* * *

><p><em>Present time…<em>

"And now we're going to do _Everything is Alright by Motion City Soundtrack_." I shout into my mic, pumped up by the amount of cheering coming from the crowd. Another wave of screaming the guys' and I's name comes from a relatively large group of girls who are gathered up at the front of the stage rings in my ears as the guys start playing again, and I can't help but laugh out loud at the amount of enthusiasm that we're getting from the crowd.

As I move around the stage, the mic glued to my lips as I blare out lyrics like an expert, I catch sight of Clary standing off to the side of the stage. A wide smile is spread across her features and she is bobbing her head along to the rhythm of the song. I wink at her and give a little nod in her direction as I continue to work the stage, pleased when I see the slight widening of her smile and a small nod towards me from her in response. I let my eyes linger on her for a moment longer as I sing and I detect something in her expression that makes my heartbeat speed up a mile.

_Pride._ That's pride in her expression. She's proud of us? Of me?

I smile at the thought, before I shake myself out of my trance and force myself to face the crowd again.

* * *

><p>"Thank you and goodnight, New York!" I call out into the mic, bowing dramatically before following the rest of the guys off of the stage. Luke smiles at us as he passes us on his way to the stage and I offer him a grin in response. "Always wanted to say that." I mumble to myself as we near the area where we set our stuff down earlier. I look around for Clary, furrowing my brows when I don't spot her res hair.<p>

"Hey, Jon? Have you seen Clare?" I ask him, causing him to raise an eyebrow up at me.

"What do you mean? She's right there-" he starts, but I don't hear the rest of his reply as I am tackled to the ground. I land flat on my back and groan as I feel a small form on top of me.

"The hell-?" I cut myself off as Clary's face comes into my view, all other thoughts disappearing from my head as I take in her overjoyed smile.

"Gotcha! That's what you get for teasing me earlier, Jackass." She whispers, leaning over my face so that her hair creates a curtain around us. I chuckle and shake my head, reaching a hand up to brush some of her hair behind her ear.

"Oh, Clare." I murmur to myself in wonder, still staring up into her beautiful eyes as she leans over me. She bites her lip to hide a smile and opens her mouth as to speak, but never gets the chance as someone else speaks before she can.

"What are you guys doing?" an amused, familiar voice inquires, causing Clary to snap her head up and her eyes to narrow. Recognizing the voice, I sit up and maneuver Clary so that she is off of me as I stand up again, pulling her up along with me.

"Rat-boy. What are_ you _doing here?" I drawl lazily, plastering a condescending smirk on my face and forcing the memory of Clary on top of me out of my head. _For the moment, anyway…_ I pull Clary to me protectively, just because I feel like it, and glare over at the three forms before me.

Simon, Aline, and –to my absolute horror- Kaelie. _Holy shit…_

* * *

><p><strong>Hi… yup.<strong>

**So, I'm really sorry for the delay, guys. I was really sick, and I still kind of am, so I couldn't really do anything except for focus on finals and that took almost all of my energy, so… yeah. I feel like a say 'sorry' a lot. Huh. :}**

**Tomorrow's my birthday. Yay! Happy birthday Me! **_**You're awesome if you know what that's from. :D**_

**IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! I may not be updating on this particular story until the beginning of 2015… I just don't know yet. We'll see. Sorry if I don't.**

**Stuff from the story:**

_**Crooked Smiles- Framing Hanley**_

_**Lonely Girl- Tonight Alive **_

_**Come Home- Tonight Alive**_

_**Everything is Alright- Motion City Soundtrack**_

_**(Listen to the songs if you want to. I promise that they're awesome. :D)**_

**The Semi-Annual Undiscovered Rockers Competition is not a real thing**_**. (I don't think…) **_**I just made it up for this story. **

**I just want to thank all of you who have continually supported me and I love you guys! You're awesome! :D**

**If you feel like it, leave a review and tell me your thoughts on my story. **_**Do you like it? Can I fix anything to make it better?**_

**M'kay. Bye. :D**

**Review&Follow**


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